IMF says it’s very close to finalizing next loan tranche for Ukraine

IMF Communications Director Gerry Rice made a couple of positive messages regarding Ukraine at his press briefing on July 14. First, he said that Ukraine is very close to getting the next loan tranche. “The discussions are very close to being finalized. Some technical issues (remain) and we expect to resolve them soon,” he said. Secondly, he highlighted that the next tranche won’t depend on the efficiency of the Ukrainian parliament this week. “There is no further legislation pending that is a condition for this review,” he said. “But there are a number of laws that are to be adopted or amended over the next several months that are important for the program’s overall success.” Answering a question on the Russian debt issue (Ukraine refuses to service USD 3 bln in debt provided by the Russian government in 2013), Rice only said that it will be considered by the board and that no material changes on this issue have happened.

Rice stated that it’s possible the IMF board will conduct its loan review in July. “Or, if it takes some more time, it would be after the board’s recess, which is coming up,” he added. Last year, the IMF board had no meeting between August 1 and August 25.

Alexander Paraschiy: It’s a surprise for us to hear that Ukraine’s parliament won’t need to adopt any legislation for the IMF to consider issuing the next loan tranche, expected to be at least USD 1 bln. Earlier, Presidential Administration Deputy Head Dmytro Shymkiv stated that Ukraine needs to adopt about 19 laws to get the tranche, of which few have been adopted. Based on this information, we can now expect the tranche to arrive in August, most likely at the end of the month.