REUTERS
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has included a third tranche for Ukraine in its agenda on September 14.
"Following my conversation with [IMF Managing Director] Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund has officially put the issue of a new tranche for Ukraine on its agenda on September 14. I count on a positive decision," the president wrote on Facebook.
The agenda has the following title: "Second Review Under the Extended Fund Facility and Requests for Waivers of Non-observance of Performance Criteria and Rephasing of Access; Ex Post Evaluation of Exceptional Access Under the 2014 Stand-By Arrangement."
As reported by UNIAN earlier, the IMF approved the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Ukraine, worth US$17.5 billion, in March 2015, for a four-year period.
Last year, Ukraine received two tranches of $5 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.
In autumn 2015, while Kyiv was awaiting the EFF's second review for the disbursement of the third tranche, worth $1.7 billion, the situation in Ukraine was complicated by local elections in October 2015 and, later, by serious political debates regarding tax reforms and the 2016 budget. Cooperation with the IMF was then frozen.
Early in 2016, political confrontation between the different branches of government in Ukraine increased.
Lagarde called upon Ukrainian authorities to look for a political compromise and implement urgent measures to end corruption.
But talks with the IMF resumed only late in April 2016, following the formation of a new Ukrainian government headed by former parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman.
The two sides returned for a second review of the cooperation program in summer and agreed, according to Ukrainian authorities, on all matters in the Memorandum of Cooperation, which included assessments of the reforms and tasks for the future.
Read alsoReuters: IMF says nearing board vote to release Ukraine bailout fundsThe memorandum was expected to be signed early in July, and the IMF's Executive Board was to consider the Ukraine issue later that month, in a bid to pave the way for distributing the third tranche.
Its sum was also under discussion, varying from $1 billion to $1.7 billion.
However, the document has not been signed, and the Ukraine issue has not yet been considered.
In late August, Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk said, in an interview with Reuters, that Ukraine was "very close" to obtaining the third tranche from the IMF.
He noted that the country was not experiencing an acute need for IMF financing, but the IMF loan would unlock other financial support for Ukraine.
In particular, Ukraine could receive $1 billion for its budget, which would be guaranteed by the United States, along with EUR 600 million of macro-financial assistance from the European Union and a US$500 million loan from the World Bank to purchase gas during the heating season.
On September 1, IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice said that the Executive Board would meet in the second half of September to consider Ukraine's disbursement.