REUTERS
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative in Ukraine Jerome Vacher says that the IMF's key task is to finance a reform program, and the IMF is ready to cooperate with the country only if its government is committed to macroeconomic stabilization.
The best efforts need to be made to ensure financial stability that can be achieved only through prudent macroeconomic policy, Vacher said at the CFA Society Ukraine Forum in Kyiv on Friday.
When asked whether the IMF plans to continue cooperation with Ukraine, Jerome said that the IMF could work only in the context when the country was committed to macroeconomic stabilization.
In his words, Ukraine has been implementing its reform agenda as agreed with the IMF under the proposed four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program.
Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Dmytro Solohub, who attended the forum, agreed with Vacher as for the importance of the reforms the country intended to implement.
"The IMF provides advice and resources, but the reform process depends on the state, and it is our responsibility," the NBU Deputy Governor said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on October 2, the IMF mission completed its second review of the EFF program for Ukraine but it did not announce any decision regarding the continuation of cooperation with Ukraine.
The next visit of the IMF mission was scheduled for this week, but on November 4, First Deputy Finance Minister Ihor Umansky stated that the IMF mission would arrive in Ukraine only after the draft state budget for 2016 had been prepared and the fiscal reform had been agreed.
As UNIAN earlier reported, Ukraine and the IMF are implementing a financial assistance program for Ukraine under the EFF to the tune of $17.5 billion. Ukraine received the first tranche under the program totaling $5 billion on March 13, Immediately after the approval of the program, and the second tranche worth $1.7 billion arrived on August 4.