A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Kyiv on January 29 as planned, Interfax-Ukraine learned at IMF Resident Representative Office in Kyiv.

As reported, the IMF mission, which is being led by Christopher Jarvis, will discuss the possibility of preparing a new Stand-By Arrangement.

On January 14, First Vice Premier of Ukraine Serhiy Arbuzov said that Kyiv intends to receive some 10 billion in SDR's under a new cooperation program with the IMF.

The current Stand-By Arrangement between Ukraine and the IMF terminated in December 2012. In late July 2010, the IMF decided to renew its loan partnership with Ukraine through a new Stand-By Arrangement worth SDR 10 billion (over $15 billion). According to the NBU, the country succeeded in getting two tranches worth a total of SDR 2.25 billion ($3.4 billion). The program was frozen at the stage of the second review in the spring of 2011. For a year and a half, Ukraine has been trying to persuade the IMF to drop its objections to the government's subsidizing natural gas tariffs for households until the completion of its gas talks with Russia.