Ruling faction leader names conditions for Ukraine to secure IMF funds

Chairman of the Servant of the People faction in Ukraine's parliament David Arakhamia says the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, by June 1, will pass all bills required to continue cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and secure a new disbursement.

The official made the comment during an interview with Reuters, as reported by the faction's press service on May 6, 2021.

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In particular, he noted that the parliament would pass all the draft laws within the IMF cooperation as regards of the allocation of US$5 billion to Ukraine.

This refers to the final adoption of a draft law (at the second reading and in general) on criminal liability for false information in officials' assets declarations, as well as amending the law on the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

The parliament also plans to amend the law on the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) to make it more independent.

"June 1 is our deadline. The government, the parliament, and the President's Office plan to stick to that date," he said.

Arakhamia added that earlier, there were disagreements between Ukraine and international donors over who should receive the majority of votes when appointing NABU's director. The model for making such a decision, he says, is still unknown, but it must be a compromise.

Background

• 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, 2020, Ukraine received the first IMF disbursement worth US$2.1 billion under the SBA.
• In late November 2020, 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 conclusions on the SBA review.