REUTERS
Deputy Director of the Ukrainian Finance Ministry's budget planning department Mykhailo Bosak says indicators of the government-drafted national budget for 2018, which has passed its first reading in parliament, are in line with the benchmarks of the International Monetary Fund's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program.
"We have met with them [an IMF delegation] and examined the figures. All the benchmarks stipulated in the memorandum were observed," Bosak said at the BudgetPro lecture on November 21 after an IMF delegation's visit to Kyiv on November 9-17.
According to the official, the delegation had questions related to the draft budget, although the government's macroeconomic forecast in the budget was in line with projections given by the National Bank, as well as by the World Bank and the IMF itself.
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The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, adopted as the basis the government-drafted budget of Ukraine for 2018 on November 14 with a number of amendments in keeping with the Budget Committee's conclusions. The budget deficit was set at UAH 77.9 billion, or 2.4% of GDP.
The budget was developed based on the medium-term budget resolution for 2018-2020 with economic growth projected at 3% in 2018 amid 11% inflation.
The full text of the amended budget for 2018 has not yet been made public, but the Finance Ministry promises to prepare the draft for the second reading by the end of November.
In March 2015, the IMF approved a four-year EFF loan program for Ukraine under which $17.5 billion will be disbursed. Ukraine has already received four disbursements from the Fund to the tune of $8.7 billion.