REUTERS
The start will be announced when all the formalities are settled.
The International Monetary Fund Resident Representative Office in Ukraine says the Fund, Ukraine's key lender, will soon announce the date when its mission is set to arrive in Kyiv to review the implementation of the current program's conditions to make a decision on providing the next loan tranche.
The announcement will come as soon as all formalities are settled, the agency's representative told UNIAN on May 15, adding that the statement on the mission's visit may be delivered this week.
The Office also noted the statement by Director of the Communications Department at the IMF Gerry Rice made at a press briefing in Washington on May 9.
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"We are in touch with the authorities. I do not have specific dates at the moment for the first review mission under the IMF program but we do expect a mission to return to Kyiv sometime in the coming weeks and that will be to assess progress under the program and discuss policies for the remainder of the year with the new administration there," he said.
UNIAN memo. The IMF Executive Board approved a new 14 month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Ukraine in the amount of $3.9 billion. Ukraine received the first disbursement under the new program in the amount of $1.4 billion on December 21, 2018. Another two disbursements worth $1.3 billion each are expected after the reviews of the implementation of the program's provisions in May and in November 2019.
By the arrival of a new IMF mission in May, Ukraine's parliament should pass the so-called split law (splitting functions to regulate financial services), while the government should reorganize the State Fiscal Service into the tax service and the customs service. Also, the subject of Ukraine-IMF talks will be an increase in natural gas prices for households by 15%.
According to the memorandum with the IMF, Ukraine has pledged to raise prices as of May 1, but in view of a reduction in gas prices on the European market, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers decided to lower prices.
In addition, experts predict that cancellation by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine of responsibility for illegal enrichment and a number of court rulings to revoke PrivatBank's nationalization may affect further cooperation with the IMF.