Ukraine recognizes its obligations to raise gas prices, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said.

"The question of raising gas prices is very difficult. You know that there are obligations that gas prices will grow amidst the growth of the global gas prices. I have been holding back this situation for a year ... However, now there is a question of another increase," he said during a press briefing in Lutsk.

He noted that the increase in gas prices is the key to continuing raising funds in international markets.

"This requirement arose because we need to work with external borrowing," the prime minister explained.

As reported, since July 2017 Ukraine has been in a complicated negotiating process with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the gas issue. The IMF insists on raising the price of gas for the population, which, according to various estimates, may range from 30% to 60% due to rising prices in international markets, while the prime minister had previously pointed out the irrationality of such a sharp increase.