Ukraine fulfills all conditions for receiving IMF tranche of $700 mln under SBA program – President’s advisor

Ukraine has fulfilled all the prior actions for receiving the $700 million tranche of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), since on October 19 the Verkhovna Rada adopted the laws necessary to continue cooperation, adviser to the President of Ukraine on economic issues Oleh Ustenko has said.

"Everything has been done for this tranche, the details of the memorandum are being coordinated with the IMF. After agreeing it, everything will be completely ready for the issue to be brought up to a meeting of the board of directors," Ustenko said in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

On October 19, parliament adopted a number of laws necessary for this, in particular, the law on the independence of the National Bank and amendments to the law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).

"Thus, the Ukrainian issue can be brought up at the first next meetings of the Board of Directors of the Fund. We look forward to a positive decision, namely, the receipt of a new tranche in Ukraine and a decision to extend the program until July 2022. This gives Ukraine the opportunity to fully choose what is reserved for the state – funding of $5 billion, which is very atypical for Ukraine," explained the presidential adviser.

He clarified that in case of a positive decision of the board of directors, funding will come in a few days.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the agreements reached with the IMF on the first revision of the Stand-By Arrangement program (SBA) will be approved in November.

A staff-level agreement (SLA) should pave the way for consideration of the first revision of the SBA and a request for an extension of the program by the IMF's board of directors. The agreement, as well as the authorities' request to extend the program, must be approved by the Fund's management and the IMF's board of directors.

In June 2020, the IMF approved a stand-by program for Kyiv with a total volume of about $5 billion, immediately allocating the first tranche of financing in the amount of $2.1 billion. Four revisions of the program's conditions were planned for the allocation of the remaining four tranches. However, the agreed schedule was violated, and funding was suspended due to Ukraine's failure to fulfill a number of obligations.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua