Ukraine still needs financial support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), although the new three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF), preliminarily agreed at the end of last year with the IMF managers, could become the last program with the IMF, Finance Minister Oksana Markarova has said.

"The IMF program, according to which we reached an agreement at the management level, is required for three years. However, having fully completed it, there is a chance to leave the IMF," the Finance Minister wrote on her Facebook page on Tuesday evening.

Ukraine's president, the government, and the National Bank agreed with the IMF management in early December on a new three-year loan program worth $5.5 billion. The IMF Executive Board will make a final decision on the program after Kyiv fulfills the last remaining preliminary requirements, including the adoption of a number of laws by the Verkhovna Rada.

The current cooperation program between Ukraine and the IMF under the Stand By Arrangement (SBA) was approved on December 19, 2018 and expires on February 17, 2020. The volume of the 14-month program is equivalent to SDR 2.8 billion, or about $3.9 billion. At the same time, SDR 1 billion (about $1.4 billion) was provided immediately. Later two more tranches were planned following the results of six-month revisions. However, in connection with the change of president and government after the election, it was decided to start developing a new cooperation program. As a result, last year there was no funding provided by the IMF, while Kyiv paid almost SDR 1.4 billion.