REUTERS
Further prospects for the country's economic growth will depend on progress in implementing structural reforms, including those envisaged by the IMF program.
Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Yakiv Smolii, says the country's international reserves are sufficient to cover a period of peak payments on state debt until the end of 2020.
"The volume of Ukraine's international reserves is sufficient to cover the period of peak payments on public debt until the end of 2020, even without external financing. However, further prospects for the country's economic growth will directly depend on progress in implementing structural reforms," he said at a coordination meeting with heads of the country's major banks on June 20.
According to Smolii, this refers to the reforms that envisaged by the Ukraine-IMF cooperation program. He added that further promotion of reforms was important not only for preserving the country's macro-financial stability, but also for ensuring its long-term economic growth.
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"Further cooperation with the IMF is the key to investors' confidence, and it affects the cost of debt capital for Ukraine," the NBU head said.
UNIAN memo. In March 2015, the IMF approved a four-year EEF loan program for Ukraine under which $17.5 billion will be disbursed. Under the program, Ukraine has received only four disbursements from the Fund to the tune of $8.7 billion due to the slow implementation of the agreed reforms. The program is expiring in March 2019. However, the National Bank of Ukraine and the Finance Ministry expect to receive $1.9 billion from the IMF in 2018.
The key requirements of the IMF to continue cooperation include passing a law on setting up an independent anti-corruption court consistent with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, as well as bringing gas prices to import parity and providing a mechanism for their automatic regulation, with a change in the price conjuncture.
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According to Ukraine's finance ministry, forthcoming payments related to state and government-guaranteed debt in 2018-2020 as of June 18 are estimated at UAH 937.52 billion in the hryvnia equivalent or at $35.5 billion (at the NBU current rate).
Ukraine's total international reserves stood at $18.120 billion as of June 1, 2018, which was 2.5% down against the figure recorded at the beginning of the year.