REUTERS
The early elections are scheduled for July 21.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ukraine's key lender, has said it held initial discussions with Ukraine on a new program at the staff level, but is still waiting for the end of the upcoming parliamentary elections to continue the talks.
"And where we are on Ukraine, is again elections are about to be held there and, we are waiting for the end of the elections before we [are] able to move forward with further discussions," the IMF's press service quoted Director of the Communications Department at the IMF Gerry Rice as saying at a press briefing in Washington on June 13. The official commented on statements by Ukrainian officials about the possible start of a new three- or four-year program in cooperation with the IMF in late 2019.
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"We did have a staff visit there and we did have some initial discussions, but we want to wait for the elections before we will be moving forward," he added.
On June 12, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Oleksiy Honcharuk told the Ukrainian news outlet NV.Biz that the Administration had started to think about a new three- or four-year program with the IMF.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the IMF mission was working in Ukraine to assess the fulfillment of the conditions for disbursing another $1.3 billion under the current Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and to consider the issue to ensure criminal liability for illegal enrichment introduced within the previous program, but canceled by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in February 2019.
Volodymyr Zelensky officially became President of Ukraine on May 20, 2019. During his swearing-in speech, he announced the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, and called on the Ukrainian government to resign.
The presidential decree on the dissolution of parliament entered into force on May 23. The early elections are scheduled for July 21.
Following the IMF mission visit to Kyiv in May 2019, the IMF said it would resume negotiations on further cooperation with Ukraine after the elections to the Verkhovna Rada and the formation of a new Cabinet of Ministers.