Acting Ukraine centrak bank head confident of receiving next IMF wire

The acting head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Yakiv Smoliy, claimed he is confident of Ukraine receiving the fifth transfer from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, Interfax-Ukraine reported on May 19. “We have four critical points, which should be discussed: pension reform, land reform, anti-corruption court, and the strategy for developing state banks,” said Smoliy. “I think we will reach a consensus on all those points and will receive the next wire”.  Also he mentioned the IMF is satisfied with all of the issues under the NBU’s remit.

On May 17, Ukrainian PM Volodymyr Groysman proposed changes to the pension system, which will be subject to review by the National Reform Council. On May 18, Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk mentioned the proposed draft needs some changes. The IMF mission arrived in Ukraine on May 16 and will stay in Kyiv till May 25.

Alexander Paraschiy: We also remain optimistic about completing demands on pension reform and land reform. However, the current progress in negotiations shows that process is not that easy and it might take more time than expected. Regarding pension reform, we see that the IMF might be unhappy with some points of the reform as presented and the comment from Finance Minister Danylyuk confirms our concerns. On land reform we see substantial resistance from agro-holdings that are reluctant to face changes in the rules of the game.  However, we still see the political will of Prime Minister, which maintains the chances that the benchmark on land reform will be also completed.  As for the anti-corruption court – this point might be even more complicated than land reform and pension reform in total.  This request most likely will require the most time-consuming effort.