Ukraine is looking forward to receiving four tranches under the IMF loan programme and two tranches in the framework of the macro-financial assistance programme from the European Union this year, the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Valeriya Hontareva, and her deputy Dmytro Solohub told a news conference on Thursday, 26 January.
Hontareva said Ukraine would receive 1bn dollars, the first of the IMF instalments planned for this year, in the near future, "maybe in early February".
"I do not see what would prevent us from getting the IMF tranche. I witnessed the president's negotiations with [IMF chief Christine] Lagarde. Some technical issues still need to be agreed upon but they are outside the realm of the NBU," Hontareva said.
Ukraine resumed cooperation with the IMF on the four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme worth 17.5bn dollars last September. The Board of Directors of the Fund on 14 September announced the completion of the second review of the cooperation programme with Ukraine, and decided to issue Kyiv with the third tranche of 1bn dollars. Ukraine received two previous tranches in 2015.
The IMF said it believed the Ukrainian authorities should focus on accelerating the reform of the large and inefficient state-owned enterprise sector, improving the business environment, and tackling corruption to attract investment and raise the economy's potential.
The European Commission on behalf of the EU in July 2015 decided to provide Ukraine with a loan of 600m euros, the first tranche under the new programme of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine, the total budget of which is 1.8bn euros. In the following months, the European Commission envisaged the allocation of an additional 1.2bn euros on condition of the successful implementation of economic and structural reforms agreed between the EU and Ukraine.
Ukraine expected to receive 600m euros at the end of 2015 and another 600m euros in early 2016, though in vain.