Ukraine is completing the fulfillment of the requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and hopes to receive a new loan tranche this year.
This was announced on Friday by the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Oleksandr Danilyuk, speaking at the analytical center Atlantic Council (a non-governmental organization lobbying for NATO interests). He is in Washington in connection with the fall annual meeting of the governing bodies of the IMF and the World Bank, where the heads of the world’s financial institutions and central banks meet.
“I think it is quite realistic that we will receive a tranche this year,” he said. “To complete the fourth program review of the state of the economy, a number of reforms must be carried out.
The minister called the country’s pension reform the «most important» requirement of the IMF program. «It was adopted last week by the Verkhovna Rada and signed by the president,» he said.
Danilyuk called the next important step «simplification of privatization processes.» «The bill is already in parliament and has been approved by its profile committee. We expect it to be adopted in the first reading … I believe it will happen next week,» he said.
Then, according to the head of the department, there is an initiative to create anti-corruption courts, which may soon be approved by the legislature. He also stressed the «importance of adopting» the land reform and promised to «take all the necessary steps for this.» According to Danilyuk, for Ukraine «the fact is now much more important» that the next tranche of the IMF «will be a powerful signal that the authorities are doing everything right.»
The IMF expects that the fourth programmatic review of the state of the Ukrainian economy in the coming days will end with positive results, and the country’s lending program will be resumed, Pole Thomsen, Director of the IMF’s European Department, said on Friday.
