14:42 01.12.2017

Poroshenko says EFF program with IMF fulfilled

3 min read
Poroshenko says EFF program with IMF fulfilled

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko assures that the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program of cooperation between the Ukrainian authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been and will be fulfilled.

"[This is] the sixth program of cooperation with the IMF and the first one in the history of our 20-year-long relations, which has been implemented by the Ukrainian authorities consistently. I stress it will be fulfilled in future as well," he said at a meeting between businessmen and officials in Kyiv on Friday.

In his words, all the branches of power in Ukraine share the same view on the need for such cooperation.

"I'd like to make it clear that the government, parliament and I are determined to continue cooperation with the IMF," he said.

As was reported, the four-year-EFF program worth SDR12.348 billion (about $17.57 billion at the current forex rate) was launched in March 2015 with a first disbursement of $5 billion. It originally suggested a quarterly review of the program, the allocation of three more tranches worth SDR 1.18 billion each in 2015 and a reduction in quarterly disbursements in 2016-2018 to SDR 0.44 billion ($0.63 billion).

According to the IMF, this is the 9th program of cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF. The first stand-by program was opened way back in April 1995. Ukraine has managed to fully implement only one program, and another three were completed with changes.

Under the ongoing program, Ukraine has managed to receive a second tranche worth $1.7 billion early in August 2015 with a little delay, which was followed by a long break as Ukraine had failed to meet a number of conditions, which was aggravated by the political crisis and government reshuffles.

Talks on further financing resumed after the appointment of a new Cabinet of Ministers headed by Volodymyr Groysman in April 2016. However, the IMF decided to issue a third disbursement worth $1 billion only in the middle of September 2016 and a fourth one on April 3, 2017.

At the moment, the IMF is still undecided on a date for the arrival of an IMF mission in Ukraine for the fourth review of the EFF program, which paves the way for a fifth tranche.

The IMF is still reviewing the bill on pension reform recently passed by Ukraine's parliament.

Moreover, other conditions for the fourth review are the adoption of legislation on the creation of an anti-corruption court; reform the process of privatization of state-owned assets to make it transparent and market-oriented. Besides, Ukraine is obliged to adjust domestic gas tariffs in keeping with an early approved formula.

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