A Ukrainian delegation headed by Defence Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk will go to the United States next week for talks with the IMF on the price of gas for households and heat generating companies, Deputy Energy Minister Ihor Prokopiv said on Wednesday, 4 October.
Speaking at the roundtable entitled "Utility gas market – European experience in Ukrainian reality", the official noted that the government decided not to change gas tariffs for the population and heat generating companies until the end of the negotiations with the IMF.
"For now, we are freezing the price," Prokopiv said.
According to the IMF-suggested methodology for determining the price of gas at import parity, adopted by the cabinet in March, gas prices for households were supposed to grow by 17.6 per cent from 1 October. However, the cabinet, contrary to its commitments to the IMF, indefinitely postponed the move, leaving the tariffs at the level of import parity on 1 April 2017 at 4,942 hryvnyas per 1,000 cu.m.
IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton said that the Fund asks Ukraine to adhere to its commitments, and stressed that depoliticising this process by applying auto formula was crucial.