The ambassadors of the G7 countries to Ukraine welcomed an update from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative in Ukraine, according to a statement on the ambassadors' official Twitter page.

"The ambassadors underscored Ukraine must demonstrate political will to protect independence of NBU and integrity of institutions like NABU [National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine], SAPO [Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office] and HACC [High Anti-Corruption Court] to ensure corruption does not erode reform progress made so far," G7Ambassadors said.

Interfax-Ukraine has not yet been able to get a comment from the IMF office in Ukraine.

As reported, last week the IMF representative found it difficult to name the possible date of the mission for the first revision of the stand-by program and the allocation of its second tranche. Refusing to directly comment on the decision of the Constitutional Court, which called into question a number of aspects of the work of NABU, the IMF representative said that maintaining the independence and integrity of NABU, SAPO and HACC is a precondition for this IMF support program. According to him, discussions about the current stand-by program continue.

Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said that among the issues the IMF is interested in, the highest priority is "the situation around PrivatBank and the Surkis brothers" [a $350 million dispute regarding bail-in during the nationalization of PrivatBank]. According to the head of the Finance Ministry, next in order is the situation with the limitation of salaries for members of supervisory boards and the board; bills registered in the Verkhovna Rada that discredit the corporate governance system; SAPO and NABU.

"The situation with anti-corruption agencies must be urgently resolved," Marchenko said.