REUTERS
Ukraine has transferred this year's last payment worth US$169 million to its key lender, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
The country has forwarded a total of $1.268 billion to the IMF this year, it said.
Ukraine's central bank earlier said it hoped that the next IMF loan tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program would arrive in the first quarter of 2018. It was originally expected by the end of the current year.
Read alsoUkraine's 2018 draft budget meets IMF requirements – finance ministry
UNIAN memo. 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.
Ukraine received one loan tranche worth $1 billion from the IMF in 2017.
The IMF expects Ukraine will adopt legislation on privatization, create an anti-corruption court, and revise the gas price for households according to import parity.
In addition, the IMF said that Ukraine needed to ensure that pension reform was consistent with the objectives of cooperation and to adopt a budget for 2018 with a deficit of no more than 2.5% of GDP in order to receive the fifth tranche.