Rada to meet on Apr. 13 to consider state budget, possibly banking law

Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, will meet shortly
to approve the laws that are needed to secure the IMF loan program, President’s
Office Head Andriy Yermak told Kristina Kvien, the acting U.S. ambassador to
Ukraine, on April 8, as reported by president office’s website. Recall, the IMF said it wants to see
the revised 2020 state budget and the final approval of a law to prevent the
return of failed banks to their former owners (the so-called anti-Kolomoisky
law).

Rada speaker Dmytro Razumkov said the same day that
MPs will likely meet for a session on Monday, Apr. 13. He told the Ukrayina 24
TV channel that amendments to the state budget are the top priority for the
session, though other bills can also be voted upon.

Voice MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of the
parliamentary finance committee, told Interfax-Ukraine on Apr. 8 that lawmakers
may vote for the anti-Kolomoisky bill at the Apr. 13 session. As of the morning
of Apr. 9, the committee (which is responsible for preparing the bill) was able
to technically process 67% of the 16,000 amendments to the bill, Zhelezniak
wrote on his blog. By Friday, all the amendments will have been technically
processed, he said.

Alexander Paraschiy: While there is a high chance that the state budget amendments will be
approved on Apr. 13, there is still little clarity about the timing of the
possible adoption of the anti-Kolomoisky bill, given that the review of over
16,000 amendments to the bill will be extremely time-consuming (as it could take over five months). Apparently, we understand there might be a
chance to speed up the process and try adopting this bill in full next week. We
see a solid chance for such a scenario, which would pave the way for the IMF
deal already in late April. But more clarity on that can only emerge when the
MPs gather in the session hall and possibly support the bill’s review under a
special, expedited procedure.