Prasolov: Ukraine hopes for successful work of IMF mission
Ukraine hopes that the visit by a mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Ukraine will result in the provision of financial assistance under the stand-by program, Ukrainian Economic Development and Trade Minister Ihor Prasolov said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He noted that the IMF mission had already started working in Ukraine. On March 27, it is expected to meet with representatives of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the Finance Ministry.
Prasolov noted that during the work of the mission meetings would also be held with the leadership of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and the deputy prime minister.
"We're working very actively, because we want to get this money, and we're interested in the refinancing of the loans that were earlier received from the IMF," he said.
He said that it was early to talk about the first results of the mission's work, as meetings with IMF representatives began a few hours ago.
"We hope that we have all grounds and all calculations for this assistance to be provided to Ukraine under the stand-by program," Prasolov said.
As reported, an IMF mission arrived in Kyiv to continue its talks with the Ukrainian authorities on a new Stand-By Arrangement. The mission plans to work in Ukraine from March 27 until April 10.
The previous IMF mission visited Kyiv January 29 through February 12 to discuss economic policies that could be supported by the IMF with the SBA. Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov said on January 14 that Kyiv intended to open a new program of financial cooperation with the IMF worth SDR 10 billion.
The previous Ukraine-IMF SBA, also worth SDR 10 billion, was formally terminated in December 2012. It was opened late in July 2010, but the country succeeded in getting two tranches worth a total of SDR 2.25 billion ($3.4 billion). The program was frozen at the stage of the second review in the spring of 2011.
For a year and a half, Ukraine had been unsuccessfully trying to persuade the IMF to drop its objections to the government's subsidizing natural gas tariffs for households until the completion of its gas talks with Russia, but failed.
