Ukraine starts discussions with IMF mission on new program

The IMF mission arrived to Ukraine aiming to reach on
a sfatt level an agreement with the Ukrainian government on a new cooperation
program, PM Oleksiy Honcharuk told journalists on Sept. 11. He said that the
government would be ready to make announcements on the progress in talks with
the IMF next week. The IMF mission plans to stay in Ukraine through Sept. 24,
Honcharuk said.

Earlier, the PM expected that Ukraine would sign a new
program with the IMF for three-four years. The National Bank of Ukraine forecasted
that Ukraine would receive USD 2 bln in IMF loans under a new program in each
of the years 2019-2021.

Alexander Paraschiy: Most likely, the parties will discuss a new EFF program with a broad
reforms agenda in Ukraine, including commitments on land market reform,
concrete anticorruption, state budget and privatization KPIs. It is possible
that the new deal will be agreed upon in the near future, but most likely
Ukraine won’t receive the first tranche under the new program until the
parliament approves a state budget for 2020, which usually happens at the end
of the calendar year. Nevertheless, the IMF mission’s visit adds positives to
market sentiment about Ukraine.