Cabinet approves 19 regulations to open up IMF funding

Yesterday, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a package of 19 regulations containing measures that were required to receive the second tranche of the IMF standby loan. The move came after Verkhovna Rada failed to vote for three anticrisis laws required for the same purpose. The IMF mission head Ceyla Pazarbasioglu said that the IMF welcomed the Cabinet’s action. According to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the adopted regulations include measures to decrease state budget expenditures, balance budgets of the Pension Fund and Naftogaz of Ukraine, recapitalize ailing banks etc. The exact details of the regulations have not been published yet. Andrii Parkhomenko: We believe that the IMF’s positive assessment of the approval of 19 regulations will enhance Ukraine’s chances to receive the second tranche of the IMF loan. On the other hand, we doubt that the measures will have positive long-term impact on Ukraine’s economy, for instance, the measures to curtail state budget expenditures.