The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the first review of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Ukraine and, based on its results, decided to allocate the second tranche of $ 699 million to the country and extend the program until June 2022.

This decision was made by the Executive Board of the Fund at a meeting in Washington on Tuesday night, according to the fund's website.

"Under the agreed policy priorities the Ukrainian authorities are committed to returning fiscal policies to settings consistent with medium-term debt sustainability while protecting the socially vulnerable, strengthening revenue administration, and reducing fiscal risks from quasi-fiscal operations, including in the energy sector; safeguarding central bank independence and focusing monetary policy on returning inflation to its target; ensuring banks' financial health, including through good governance, with the goal of reviving sound bank lending to the private sector; tackling corruption and pushing forward with the implementation of judicial reform; and reducing the role of the state and vested interests in the economy to improve the business environment, attract investment and raise the economy's potential," the report says.

"The completion of the review allows the authorities to draw the equivalent of about $ 699 million (SDR 500 million), bringing total disbursements under the current SBA to about $ 2.8 billion (SDR 2 billion)," the fund said.

"The Board also approved an extension of the Stand-By Arrangement to end-June 2022 and a rephasing of program disbursements as well as the Ukrainian authorities' request for a waiver for non-observance of the December 2020 performance criterion on government guaranteed debt in light of the corrective actions already taken," according to the document.

"Ukraine's IMF supported economic program aims to help the authorities address the effects of the COVID-19 shock, sustain the economic recovery, and move ahead on important structural reforms to reduce key vulnerabilities," the report reads.

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine in its release announced that the funds received from the IMF will be used to ensure macroeconomic stability and to finance the budget deficit.

"The decision to allocate the tranche is the result of our structural reforms and evidence that our country is moving on the right path ... The availability of the IMF program has a positive impact on the international image of our country, and also opens up opportunities for obtaining financial support from a number of international partners," Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko commented on the positive decision of the fund.