IMF top official says Kyiv negotiating currency swap lines with several countries - media
Ukraine is in talks with several countries to provide currency swap lines to raise the country's emergency cash reserves, the International Monetary Fund First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton said on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"There are swaps from two or possibly three other countries that are under discussion which could also augment Ukraine's reserves," the publication quoted Lipton as saying at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
Last month, the forex reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine fell to $5.6 billion which could barely cover one month of imports. But combined with cash from the IMF's latest bailout, a $2 billion currency swap line from China would help boost the reserves to cover three months of imports, Lipton said.
The IMF aims to raise Ukraine's reserves from $10 billion to more than $18 billion by the end of the year.
Speaking at Peterson Institute for International Economics, Lipton said the objective of the IMF program is to cover Ukraine's external financing needs, estimated at about $40 billion over the next four years. The first economic goal of the program is to stabilize Ukraine's finances, which began with the task of restoring stability to the foreign exchange market.
Ukraine received the $5 billion first tranche of the IMF loan on March 13.