REUTERS
The International Monetary Fund’s spokesman, Gerry Rice, said it will soon appoint a new date for the meeting of its Executive Board on allocating the next tranche to Ukraine, noting the postponement of the previous meeting scheduled for March 20 is not unusual and is due to the need to clarify some details of the cooperation program.
"This [postponement] isn’t unusual," Rice said.
According to him, the postponement of the meeting was due to the need to agree on some details of the cooperation program in connection with the latest developments in Ukraine, but at the same time, he did not specify, which events were being discussed.
The IMF representative also noted that the fund is in a constructive dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities. "Constructive discussions between [IMF] staff and Ukrainian authorities have been continuing, again, taking into account some recent developments,” said Rice. "We expect to announce a new Board date soon."
At the same time, the head of the IMF communication department noted that he did not have information on the revision of the volumes, terms and conditions of the next tranche.
In addition, during a briefing, a Russian journalist asked Rice how the IMF regards the alleged statement by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that Ukrainian radical nationalists should be sent to negotiate with the Fund. According to the representative of the Russian media, these words can be regarded as a physical threat to the IMF. "I’m not familiar with that," Rice replied, expressing surprise at this question.
Read alsoUkraine issue not on IMF Exec Board agenda in MarchAs UNIAN reported earlier, the IMF on March 19 suspended indefinitely the meeting of its Executive Board to consider the allocation to Ukraine of another $1 billion bailout tranche. The meeting had earlier been expected to be held March 20.
According to the IMF representative in Ukraine, the Fund is awaiting from the National Bank of Ukraine and the Finance Ministry the updated macroeconomic forecasts within days.