REUTERS
Ukraine may receive the second tranche from the International Monetary Fund in the amount of $1.7 billion as early as next week, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko told journalists on Monday.
"We expect the [IMF] Board's decision on Friday, July 31. The next week, i.e. within a few business days, we'll have to receive $1.7 billion for the reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine," she said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, a meeting of the Board of the IMF to consider the allocation of $1.7 billion in the second tranche to Ukraine under the four-year Extended Fund Facility program was slated for July 31. By this date, the fund expects to reach an agreement with creditors on restructuring the external debt of Ukraine in the amount of $15.3 billion.
Last week, Ukraine signed a Letter of Intent following the first review of the IMF program under EFF arrangement and submitted it to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. The Letter was signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko and NBU Governor Valeria Gontareva.
On July 24, the press office of the Cabinet of Ministers, with reference to Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said that the Ukrainian government had fulfilled all preliminary criteria of the IMF and looked forward to a positive decision of the Board of Directors of the Fund on July 31 on the allocation of $1.7 billion of the second tranche to Ukraine.
Ukraine is implementing a reform program agreed with the IMF, which provides for allocation of $17.5 billion in Ukraine under the new EFF during a four-year term. The first $5 billion tranche was received immediately after the approval of the program in March.