Ukraine's National Bank says new cooperation program with IMF might be signed in 2019

First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kateryna Rozhkova says the regulator has maintained its forecast for the conclusion of a new program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ukraine's key lender, as early as this year.

"We really expect the program will be signed before year-end," she told journalists on Sept 16.

To this end, it is necessary to intensively work with the IMF mission, which arrived in Kyiv on Sept 11, for the remaining 1.5 weeks. The mission will also analyze the budget. Following that, the IMF Executive Board's approval is required.

"If we are optimistic in our hard work and ready for this, this will be done by the end of the year," she added.

According to Rozhkova, it is too early to talk about the program parameters, but it may be a three-year program. Its capacity will be set after the national budget for 2020 has been analyzed.

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As UNIAN reported, the IMF mission started its work in Kyiv on Sept 11. Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk says the government starts negotiations with the IMF on the new program, counting on its launch by the end of the year.

The National Bank estimated the potential capacity of the new program at US$5billion to $10 billion and predicted the receipt of the first disbursement at US$2 billion by the end of 2019.

Ukraine's Finance Minister Oksana Markarova has announced that the new program may be the last one, as Ukraine will be able to do without IMF support.

According to experts interviewed by UNIAN, Ukraine will ask the IMF for the new Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program worth US$6 billion to $20 billion for a period of two or four years.