13:45 05.08.2015

New IMF mission to arrive in Ukraine late in September – NBU

3 min read
New IMF mission to arrive in Ukraine late in September – NBU

A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the second review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Ukraine is expected to arrive in the country in the second half of September, First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Oleksandr Pysaruk said.

"The IMF mission will arrive in Ukraine in the second half of September," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

As reported, the four-year EFF program worth SDR 12.348 billion (about $17.23 billion at the current rate) was opened in March 2015. In March 2015, the IMF gave Ukraine a first tranche worth about $5 billion under the program. Of the amount, about $2.7 billion was given to the government to prop up the national budget, the remaining funds were transferred to the NBU.

The EFF originally foresaw a quarterly review of the program, and allocation of three more tranches worth SDR 1.18 billion (about $1.67 billion) in 2015 and a decrease in quarterly tranches in 2016-2018 to SDR 0.44 billion ($0.63 billion).

An IMF mission for the first EFF review worked in Kyiv May 12 through June 11. It originally planned to complete its work in late May or early June so that a decision on the second tranche under the EFF could have been taken by the end of June. However, it was announced early in July that a staff-level agreement had been reached on a set of policies needed to complete the first review under the EFF, and the agreement was subject to approval by IMF management and the Executive Board once the prior actions were completed and the conditions were in place for staff to assess that the public debt was sustainable with high probability, and that the program was fully financed.

The IMF Executive Board gave the green light for the second tranche worth $1.7 billion on July 31, 2015.

At the same time, the original schedule for the allocation of the tranches under the revised EFF program has not unchanged.

Ukraine's structural benchmarks are the creation of a special division of the anti-corruption prosecutor's office, the adoption by the Cabinet of a resolution on an action plan to sell five state-run enterprises from the list of priority companies subject to privatization.

The Finance Ministry is also expected to publish by the end of September 2015 a plan on how to improve financial performance and a schedule for monitoring state-owned banks. The government pledged to review its methods to prepare financial plans of state-run enterprises. It will also table bills in parliament to introduce an alternative, out-of-court mechanism for debt restructuring and terminate the special value-added tax regime for agriculture.

The parliament is to adopt a bill establishing a profession of private enforcement agents in Ukraine and cancel a moratorium on checks by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.

The government also plans to complete talks with private creditors by the end of September on the restructuring of Ukraine's foreign debt.

AD
AD
AD
AD
AD