IMF says board meeting on Ukraine to convene after Dec. 10

The meeting of IMF executive board to discuss the
Stand-By Arrangement with Ukraine would be convened promptly after Ukrainian authorities
complete all the agreed upon tasks, which are expected to be happen by Dec. 10,
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde stated on Nov. 28. According to the
IMF’s press release, its staff has preliminarily concluded that the parameters
of Ukraine’s 2019 budget are “satisfactory.” Largarde had a call with President
Petro Poroshenko on Nov. 28 to discuss the cooperation. “We reaffirmed the
positive and cooperative relationship between Ukraine and the IMF,” she said.

Alexander Paraschiy: All this confirms
our expectation that Ukraine will receive the first tranche under new USD 3.9
bln stand-by loan program with the IMF by the end of this year. Most likely,
the IMF’s board meeting will be scheduled closer to the date of the World Bank
board’s meeting to discuss Ukraine, which is Dec. 18.
Remarkably, the IMF sees no impediments for the tranche from Ukraine having
imposed martial law in some of its regions.

The only unknown parameter is the size of the upcoming
tranche: based on various messages from Ukraine’s officials, it should be in
the range between USD 1.4 bln and USD 2.0 bln. Most likely, the amount will be
closer to the lower bound of this range.