The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Gavin Gray begins technical discussions with Ukrainian government officials on Monday, IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Vahram Stepanyan said in a statement from Warsaw.

He said that the subject of discussions is recent economic developments and with a view to discussing fiscal, financial and structural measures in preparation for the 2023 consultations on Article IV of the IMF Agreements and the second review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

As reported, the four-year EFF program was approved on March 31 of this year, and the first tranche of $2.7 billion was disbursed in early April. The planned schedule of the program involves the provision to Ukraine after the first tranche of three tranches of SDR 664 million (about $873 million at the current exchange rate) in mid-June and October of this year and at the end of February next year based on the results of the first, second and third review, when the fulfillment of obligations for the period at the end of the year is assessed April, June and December this year respectively.

It is expected that in case of a successful verdict of the mission, the decision on the disbursement of the third tranche of the EFF program may be made in the second half of October-November. At the same time, Ukraine has not yet fulfilled all the structural benchmarks of the program necessary for its second review.