The IMF mission will start the first review of the Stand-By Arrangement for Ukraine from December 21 to December 23, IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Gösta Ljungman said in a statement on Friday evening.

"Given the COVID-pandemic, the mission will hold remote meetings with the Ukrainian authorities to discuss economic developments, and policies and reforms to underpin the completion of the review," he said.

Ljungman said the mission plans to resume meetings in January 2021, after the New Year holidays.

The IMF on June 9, 2020 approved a new 18-month Stand-By Arrangement for Ukraine for SDR 3.6 billion (about $5 billion) with an immediate allocation of $2.1 billion of the first tranche.

After the allocation of the first tranche, four revisions of the program were planned: following the results of June, September and December 2020, as well as June 2021 with the completion of these revisions, respectively, on September 1 and December 1, 2020 and on May 15 and October 15, 2021. The sizes of the second and third tranches are $700 million, the third is $560 million and the final fourth is $980 million. It was assumed that the virtual mission for the first revision of the program would work on July 13-23, but this plan was violated.

According to informed sources of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the Stand-By Arrangement was actually "paused" due to actions by the Ukrainian side, which cast doubt on the basic principles of cooperation under the program. However, the statements of President Volodymyr Zelensky on his commitment to reforms and the fight against corruption and a number of concrete steps, including the adoption of the 2021 national budget and the restoration of the organizational structure of the National Bank, made it possible to declare the mission.