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The rating agency expects that a new program with the IMF will be approved by the end of 2018.
S&P Global Ratings has affirmed its 'B-/B' long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Ukraine. The outlook is stable.
Ukraine's national scale rating is raised to "uaBBB," it said.
According to S&P, despite the fact that Ukraine has not received funding under the program with the International Monetary Fund since March 2017, the new program will be approved by the end of 2018.
Read alsoMoody's expects Ukraine's economy to grow by about 3.5% annually
S&P notes that the “stable” outlook on Ukraine reflects the agency’s expectations that the current program with the IMF will be terminated early, but a new program will be implemented instead, which will last 14 months.
The agency believes that the new agreement with the IMF will help Ukraine fulfill its significant external debt obligations maturing next year, and, at the same time, implement a balanced macroeconomic policy in the year of presidential and parliamentary elections.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the International Monetary Fund staff and the Ukrainian authorities have reached agreement on economic policies for a new 14-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).
The new SBA will replace the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), approved in March 2015 and set to expire in March 2019.