REUTERS
Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Communications Department and IMF spokesman Gerry Rice says the Executive Directors of Ukraine's key lender, the IMF, will meet on Ukraine soon, where they are to consider the implementation of existing cooperation programs, the so-called third review, and a report on the country's economic progress (Article IV), a technical document prepared for all IMF member states every two years.
"We have been holding discussions with the Ukrainian authorities within the framework of our surveillance of our member countries, and we expect the outcome of these discussions will be presented for the consideration of the Board in a staff report -- jointly with the third review -- in the period ahead. You know this but for others, we are in discussions with the authorities on the third review of the program that Ukraine has with the IMF. What I am saying now is that we expect that the Article IV report will be presented jointly with the third review when that comes to the Board, and we are expecting that soon," he said at an IMF press briefing in Washington on Thursday, February 9.
He also said that the IMF was happy with the progress made by the Ukrainian authorities.
Read alsoEU Commissioner Hahn confident of Ukraine's greater economic growth"In addition to what I said, you may have seen that we've said recently that good progress has been made on the policies needed to complete the third review under the program arrangement that the IMF has with Ukraine. We are in close contact and discussions with the authorities. In fact, Madame Lagarde met with President Poroshenko a few weeks ago, in the context of Davos. There are few remaining issues that need to be resolved. It's related to finalizing the Memorandum on the Economic and Financial Policies and the timing of some upcoming measures. Assuming that those remaining issues can be resolved, we expect to propose the completion of the third review to our Board in the coming weeks," he said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine is now cooperating with the IMF under a four-year Extended Fund Facility program approved in March 2015. Under this program, Ukraine has already received three loan tranches, totaling US$7.62 billion out of the pledged $17.5 billion.
At the moment, Ukraine is undergoing the third review of the program, after which Ukraine expects a fourth disbursement of $1 billion from the IMF. Further steps include the creation of a road map for further cooperation and the agenda of necessary reforms for the coming year.
Support of Ukraine by international financial institutions, particularly the IMF and the G7 governments, remains an important element of economic stability and effectiveness of the country's reforms.