IMF awaits more clarity about status of Ukraine government

The IMF needs to have more clarity about the status of the Ukrainian government and the coalition to complete its second review under the EFF program, Gerry Rice,  the director of the IMF’s communications department, told a March 3 press briefing. Following the review, Ukraine is expected to receive a third tranche under the EFF program in the amount of about USD 1.7 bln. This tranche was initially scheduled for September 2015.

Alexander Paraschiy: As hinted earlier by Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the IMF cannot sign a memorandum and provide a loan tranche to the government whose future is unclear. By signing the memorandum, the Cabinet would be making certain commitments to the IMF and it needs to have enough authority amd enough time to implement these commitments. A prompt disbursement of the next IMF tranche is only possible if Ukraine’s parliament creates a new coalition (or declares that the old coalition still exists) in the next week or two. Otherwise, there is a risk of early parliamentary elections, which will postpone the next IMF tranche by four months, at least.