Ukraine needs to start talks with IMF on new program as early as this year – NBU Governor

Ukraine needs to begin as early as this year the negotiations on a new cooperation program with the country's key creditor, the International Monetary Fund, according to the National Bank Governor Yakiv Smolii.

The country must also continue to fulfill its obligations under the current program, the NBU press service quotes Smolii as saying during a meeting with a  chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Sergei Guriev.

During the meeting, participants discussed the prospects for Ukraine's foreign debt servicing, the process of preparing for the entry of international financial organizations into the capital of state banks and the potential participation of the EBRD to this end, as well as the development of e-payments.

Read alsoNBU to revise Ukraine's reserves forecast due to pause in relations with IMF

According to the NBU, EBRD representatives expressed support for the policy of flexible exchange rates and the inflation targeting regime, which the National Bank adheres to, and also noted the need to preserve the regulator's independence.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the IMF mission recently made a visit to Ukraine to assess the conditions for granting the country the next loan tranche worth $1.3 billion under the current stand-by program and to study the issue of liability for illegal enrichment, canceled in February by the decision of the Constitutional Court Of Ukraine.

On the eve of the mission’s arrival, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky initiated an extraordinary parliamentary election scheduled for July 21 and invited the current government to resign.

As a result of the IMF mission's review, the Fund said the negotiations on further cooperation with Ukraine will be resumed after the elections to the Verkhovna Rada have been held and policy priorities – defined by the new Cabinet of Ministers.