The International Monetary Fund (IMF) continues constructive engagement and discussions with the Ukrainian authorities and its donors on the provision of further financing and aims to bring the combined second and third reviews of Ukraine's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program to the Executive Board for consideration by December this year.
"The staff is working to bring the issue of the combined second and third reviews of the program to the Executive Board for consideration by December," IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said at a briefing on Thursday.
She recalled that the IMF completed the first review of the four-year program approved at the end of February this year in July. Its mission then visited Ukraine, concluding its visit on September 2. More recently, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva held a bilateral meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and with Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko in Dublin during an ECOFIN meeting.
"Bringing this issue to the Board for consideration depends on receiving sufficient and reliable financing assurances to cover the projected financing gap on terms consistent with ensuring Ukraine's debt sustainability," Kozack said.
Regarding the potential size of the financing gap, she again referred to active discussions with the Ukrainian authorities and their international partners, but was unable to provide specific figures.
"The aim of these discussions is to confirm Ukraine's financing needs and obtain the financing assurances needed to complete the program reviews in a timely manner. Regarding the period after 2026, the specific size of the financing gap will depend, and this is very important, on the course of the war, implementation of reforms by the authorities, the economic situation and continued support from Ukraine's international partners," the IMF spokesperson stressed.
Marchenko said last week that an IMF mission to review the EFF program is expected in November, and that by then it would be desirable to obtain confirmation of all sources of the $52.6 billion in external financing for the state budget in 2027. He recalled that about $32.6 billion of this amount still requires additional confirmation.
According to Marchenko, Kyiv expects the European Union to fulfill its commitment to cover two-thirds of Ukraine's external financing needs next year as well, which would mean an increase of about $17.5 billion in confirmed financing. As for the remaining approximately $15 billion, the minister said there are a number of potential sources of financing, including bilateral financing and guarantees, as well as programs with international financial institutions.
He also said work is underway on the possibility of increasing financing through frozen Russian assets, for example by transferring them from Belgian jurisdiction to EU jurisdiction and placing them in higher-yielding instruments, although no ready-made solutions are currently available.
Marchenko stressed the critical importance of Ukraine fulfilling its commitments both for reaching an agreement on new financing and for receiving financing already agreed. He said the domestic political agenda in EU countries and the results of elections in partner countries that have already taken place or are expected to take place have a serious impact on the course of negotiations. At the same time, the minister said the government is determined to fulfill all its commitments and hopes to receive support from the Verkhovna Rada.
As reported, in February 2026 the IMF Executive Board approved a new four-year EFF program for Ukraine worth $8.1 billion for 2026-2029. In July, the Fund completed the first review of the program and disbursed a second tranche of about $690 million, bringing total financing received under the new program to $2.2 billion.
At the same time, deadlines for implementing some of the program's structural benchmarks were missed. Following the first review, the updated EFF program was supplemented with eight structural benchmarks, seven of them fiscal.
Under the second review, Ukraine was scheduled to receive SDR 0.50 billion (about $0.7 billion), while the third review, scheduled under the program for the end of the year, was to provide SDR 0.70 billion (about $0.95 billion).
