IMF to consider EFF program for Ukraine on March 31 – agenda of board of governors

On March 31, the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will consider Ukraine's request to open a new four-year EFF extended financing program.

According to the agenda published on the Fund's website on Wednesday, this will also be preceded by summing up the results of the Monitoring Program with Board Involvement (PMB) for Ukraine opened in December.

As reported, on March 21, the IMF announced that it had reached an agreement at the staff-level agreement (SLA) on a new four-year EFF program for Ukraine for a total amount of SDR 11.6 billion (about $15.6 billion). The fund specified that the final decision of the board was expected in the next weeks.

On March 24, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft Letter of Intent from the Government and the National Bank of Ukraine to the IMF and the draft Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policies. At this stage, the documents themselves are traditionally not published.

The program is supposed to be divided into two stages. The first is aimed at maintaining stability, is designed for 12-18 months and is based on the PMB, while the second stage, with large structural reforms, is aimed at growth and European integration.

Negotiations for a new EFF program were preceded by the PMB Monitoring Program. Ukraine, in the conditions of the IMF's unwillingness to immediately allocate significant financing in the autumn of last year, requested it from the Fund for a period of four months and received approval from the Board on December 20.

On February 17, the work of the IMF mission ended in Warsaw, following which a statement was made on the SLA, on the early termination of the PMB program and the transition to the preparation of a new expanded program involving financing.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua