Ukraine seeking from IMF double the amount of aid it asked for earlier

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during a telephone conversation with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva proposed to almost double the amount of assistance to Ukraine under the new extended fund facility, which had previously been suggested at $5.5 billion.

That's according to Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Yulia Kovaliv, who spoke via a video link.

"Yesterday, the president discussed with the Fund's managing director an increase in the cooperation program, a substantial increase, I will not give you the numbers, but in fact it's double the amount," she said.

"We're also discussing the allocation of all tranche money for the budget, because we see that the National Bank has sufficient reserves," Kovaliv added.

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As UNIAN reported earlier, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva discussed the increase in assistance to Ukraine due to the spread of coronavirus, as well as expanding the cooperation program between Ukraine and the IMF to support further reforms.

UNIAN memo. Ukraine and the IMF in December 2019 reached a staff-level agreement on a new three-year extended fund facility in the amount of $5.5 billion. The decision on the new program is yet to be approved by the IMF Executive Board, while the exact date for consideration of Ukraine issue has not yet been set, since the country hasn't fulfilled all preliminary conditions for starting the new program.

On March 11, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that Ukraine would fulfill prerequisites for launching the new program with the IMF within two to three weeks.

The IMF on March 5 said that the Fund would provide about $50 billion in rapid financing for low-income economies and developing economies to overcome the negative effects of the coronavirus epidemic.

On March 16, the Fund expressed willingness to mobilize a $1 trillion credit potential to help member states during the coronavirus epidemic.