Ukraine, in the absence of additional shocks, may pass the second half of 2022 without an urgent conclusion of a new program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Verkhovna Rada committee on finance, taxation and customs policy, believes.

"If there are no shocks, I would not see any problems with servicing the public debt in 2022 and fulfilling our obligations - such problems that would force us to conclude a new program with the IMF right tomorrow," he said on the Rada TV channel.

"We must discuss the terms of this program and sign an agreement on favorable terms for us," Hetmantsev added.

At the same time, the parliamentarian expressed confidence in receiving the remaining two tranches of $700 million each as part of the current Stand-By Arrangement, which ends this summer.

"If the price of gas remains the same, then I am sure that we will continue to restrain gas prices. We will return to this issue in May-June," he said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that after the completion of the joint Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF in the summer of 2022, which was opened in the summer of 2020, Ukraine intends to continue cooperation with the fund under the new program.