Final version of memo with IMF not drafted yet – finance minister

Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko has said the final version of the memorandum, which will be agreed upon following the revision of the program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is not ready yet.

"It depends on the IMF. By and large, we do not have any difficulties that would prevent us from starting negotiations on the memorandum. By and large, the draft memorandum could be discussed now. But there will be a lot of nuances in the wording, in the details. There will be a lot of preconditions due to the fact that some of the structural beacons will become preconditions," he told LB.ua in an interview.

"So far, there are no conditions, but we can definitely say they will be in the plane of anti-corruption reform," the minister said.

Marchenko also said Ukraine intends to discuss with the IMF the issue of extending the current Stand-By Arrangement.

"We will discuss this issue when we start working on the memorandum," the minister said.

At the same time, Marchenko said Ukraine is proposing that the volume of the following tranches be revised.

Read alsoUkraine may receive US$2.7 bln from IMF – NBU governor"If we combine the conditions that were in the memorandum for several tranches, it will be logical to combine the tranches themselves. We will put this as one of the priority issues. The question is the following: what will we revise if we fulfill the lion's share of the program now?" he said.

IMF assistance toward global economic recovery

The International Monetary Fund is discussing the possibility of allocating Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in the amount of $650 billion to revive global economy post coronacrisis.

According to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, such assistance will provide additional liquidity to the global economic system by replenishing reserve assets of 190 member countries.

IMF and Ukraine

On June 9, 2020, the IMF's Executive Board adopted an 18-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) worth SDR 3.6 billion, or about US$5 billion, aimed at helping Ukraine overcome the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 12, Ukraine received the first IMF disbursement worth US$2.1 billion under the SBA.

In late November, the Finance Ministry reported on the successful completion of talks with the IMF on benchmarks of the draft budget for 2021, which was one of the major prerequisites for starting the SBA review.

On January 11, 2021, an IMF mission resumed work in Kyiv, they worked until February 12 but departed without issuing any decision on the SBA review.

On April 12, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Kyrylo Shevchenko said Ukraine might receive US$2.7 billion from the International Monetary Fund.