The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has begun to discuss a new three-year Extended Fund Facility for Ukraine and, following a two-week work in Kyiv, announced plans to continue the discussion in the coming weeks.

"Discussions on the new program will continue in the coming weeks," chief of the mission Ron van Rooden has stated.

"The mission has had productive discussions on policies for a new program these last two weeks, especially on fiscal and monetary policies, as well as key reform measures. It also underscored the importance of central bank independence and safeguarding financial stability, as well as the need to make every effort to minimize the fiscal costs of bank resolutions," according to the statement posted on the IMF's website.

"The current account deficit has fallen to 3–3.5% of GDP and reserves have recovered to over $20 billion. Sound fiscal and monetary policies and exchange rate flexibility have resulted in a sharp reduction in Ukraine's external and internal imbalances. Decisive efforts to restructure the banking system have been critical for economic stabilization and the resumption of growth," the expert said.

"Growth is too low, however, to noticeably close the income gap with Ukraine's neighbors. Per capita GDP in Ukraine is still very low – just 20% of the EU average, the second lowest level of all Central and Eastern European countries," he stated.