imf

Tuesday, March 1

The National Bank of Ukraine is discussing options to support the economy and financial sector of our country during martial law with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is noted that the Fund’s experts praised all the measures taken by the National Bank to ensure the continuity of the financial system during martial law. Further steps are being discussed, i...

Thursday, February 24

In Western Ukraine, 16 communities have joined forces to build a waste sorting plant. The Polyana community in Zakarpattia has signed agreements with 16 surrounding communities to establish a garbage sorting plant. The amount of construction investment is €12M, €9M of which will be sup...

Monday, February 21

The third tranche from the IMF will come to Ukraine soon. According to finance minister Serhiy Marchenko, the IMF could allocate a $700M tranche to Ukraine based on the revision of the stand-by program that expires in June, 2022. Currently, Ukraine has ful...

Thursday, February 3

The IMF is ready to support the countries that will suffer from Russia’s SWIFT disconnection. The International Monetary Fund is prepared to help countries that may suffer from any side effects of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and other sanctions imposed by Western governments on Russia. Thi...

Friday, January 14

Ukraine’s new program of cooperation with the IMF. After completing a joint stand-by program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the summer of 2020, Ukraine intends to continue the partnership under a new program, said The Prime Minister, De...

Friday, November 26

Ukraine has pledged to agree to 12 conditions to receive the next IMF tranche. These structural beacons include: to approve the budget for 2022 with a deficit target of 3.5% of GDP; to abolish concessions in the criteria for state representatives in the management of state-owned...

Monday, November 15

IMF to consider second stand-by tranche for Ukraine on November 22. The IMF Board of Directors plans to approve the results of the first revision of the stand-by program on November 22. In June 2020, the IMF approved a stand-by program for Kyiv with a total volume of ...

Tuesday, October 19

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ukraine agreed on a tranche of funding of $ 700 million, reported imf.org. The IMF and the Government of Ukraine have signed a preliminary agreement to extend the lending program and provide Ukraine with a tranche of about $700 million. The IMF team and Ukr...

Thursday, October 14

The G7 ambassadors discussed the implementation of the Stand-by Agreement with the head of Ukraine’s IMF mission. The ambassadors were pleased to hear about Ukraine’s fulfillment of some conditions of the Stand-by Agreement, including steps regarding the banking sector and the Deposit Guarantee Fund, the st...

Ukraine may receive $ 1.4 billion from the IMF in October-December 2021, predicted JP Morgan. “We believe that the IMF will pay a tranche of $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 but is considering a possible range of this amount from $1 bill...

Tuesday, September 14

The IMF mission in Ukraine commented on the first revision of the stand-by arrangements to commence on September 21 to September 23, 2021, The IMF Representative in Ukraine, Vladyslav Rashkovan said. “The mission could start working in 10-12 days, and most likely the mission will be virtual,” he said speaking at the YES Brain...

Wednesday, August 25

The IMF’s generosity is under fire. Its decision to give neighboring Belarus, whose President Alexander Lukashenko is accused of usurping power and accused of dictatorship, about $1 billion, is being strongly criticized by the Belarusia...

Friday, August 6

“By stalling economic reforms and refusing to fight corruption, the government has replaced cheap IMF loans at rates of about 1% with commercial loans at rates of 6.875% or higher, ” continues Verlanov, who was fired by Zelenskiy in April 2020. “The developments illustrate the government’s shortsighted debt management approach that has become the hallmark of Ukraine’s incoherent...

Wednesday, August 4

In Washington, the IMF Board of Governors approved Monday night a general allocation of Special Drawing Rights equivalent to $650 billion to boost global liquidity . According to country quotas, Ukraine gets 4%, or $2.7 billion. “This is a historic decision – the largest SDR allocation in the history of the IMF and a shot in the arm for the global economy at a t...

Thursday, July 29

Failure to reach an agreement with the IMF and the resignation of one third of top officials at the bank over the last year are the leading complaints against Kyrylo Shevchenko, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, reports Economichna Pra...

Monday, July 19

With the summer slipping away, the realistic scenario for Ukraine’s relationship with the IMF might be to convert Ukraine’s frozen Stand-By Arrangement into an Extended Fund Facility , wrote Timothy Ash, a veteran observer of Ukraine’s IMF deals. The IMF may “look to roll the monies into a new EFF to be negotiated towards year end – maybe that should now be the focus,” Ash w...

Friday, July 16

The IMF has welcomed the Rada’s recent approvals of judicial reform bills, but “more progress is needed in other sectors,” said Gerry Rice, the IMF spokesman at the regular briefing in Washington. “Discussions with the authorities will continue.”

Thursday, July 1

In the Rada’s latest move to meet IMF requirements, Ukraine’s parliament yesterday approved legislation to strengthen the independence of the central bank and expand its regulatory powers. Government members are not to attend Board meetings of the Nati...

Vahram Stepanyan, a veteran of reform programs in Hungary and Romania, is the new IMF resident representative in Ukraine. A native of Armenia, Stepanyan most recently served with the IMF in the United Arab Emirates. Goesta Ljungman, the IMF representative here for the last four years, is returning to Washington in a rout...

Wednesday, June 30

If both laws were deemed ‘IMF compliant,’ they would contribute to restarting in July the long dormant process of an IMF review and to the resumption of lending in September . Ukraine’s $5 billion IMF program stalled after a first tranche was disbursed one year ago. Compliance with an IMF program reassures foreign investors. Compliance would also change the dynamic of Pre...

President Zelenskiy stressed the importance of getting the IMF deal back on track when he was interviewed two weeks ago by AP, AFP and Reuters. “This is important primarily for our economic stability and investment climate,” he said in a transcript posted on the presidential websit...

Monday, May 17

The IMF’s decision to distribute $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights this summer is undermining arguments for free market changes in countries like Ukraine, Timothy Ash argues in an essay. He writes from London: “The hope was the looming debt service hump for Ukraine in Q3, when $3bn in external debt falls due, would concentrate minds in the Zelenskiy adm...

Wednesday, April 28

Adamant Capital yesterday wrote: “The placement occurred with a small (10-20bps) yield premium to the market, suggesting that it was well received, despite the apparent delays in the state’s program with the IMF. The timing suggests ...

Tuesday, April 20

Ukraine is on track to revive the IMF accord and to receive a $2 billion tranche by September, said Oleh Ustenko, a Presidential Economic Adviser, (Ukraina 24 TV). He said: “The bills we need to pass in order to get the tranche — the judiciary, its reform and the anti-corruption architect...

Talks with the IMF are progressing and September is a realistic date for the tranche, said Serhiy Marchenko, Finance Minister (LB.ua). “We are now narrowing the range of unresolved issues.” “In January, when there was a mission, there were many issues. Now there are fewer, they should ...

Tuesday, April 13

Ukraine may receive $2.7 billion from the IMF this summer under a plan by the International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, to allocate $650 billion from international reserves to restore the world economy after the coronavirus crisis....

Alfa-Bank Ukraine wrote: “An easy $2.7 billion from the IMF might arrive in 2021…This allocation might be very helpful as Ukraine faces its next FX debt payment peak in September ($3.1 billion). However, such ‘windfall cash’ ...

Separately, Shevchenko told Interfax-Ukraine last week that Ukraine should receive two tranches from last June’s $5 billion IMF Stand-by Agreement “given the longer course of negotiations.” Ukraine has been in on-again, off-again talks with the IMF since last fall. He said that he hoped that the Rada will pass legislation in coming weeks so that...

Wednesday, April 7

The IMF has raised its Ukraine GDP growth to 4% this year, up from its forecast of 3% made six months ago. World GDP is to increase by 6% this year, “reflecting additional fiscal support in a few large economies and the anticipated vaccine-powered recovery in...

Thursday, April 1

Renewal of Ukraine’s $5 billion IMF agreement depends on “a number of outstanding issues that need to be resolved,” Goesta Ljungman, the IMF’s resident representative, said in a lengthy interview with Interfax-Ukraine. “At this stage, it is not possible to make any predictions about when the review can be completed...

Facing $6 billion in external borrowing that are needed this year, Ukraine is “already uncomfortable” without the $3 billion in remaining IMF tranches , Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said in a lengthy interview with LIGA. “We have no opportunity to receive income from another source,” he says. “The IMF program is our baseline scenario.” He said ...

Separately, Marchenko hopes to reach an IMF staff level agreement soon, he told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. Anti-corruption policy and judicial reform remained outstanding issues in the talks, he said.

US and IMF support for Ukraine depend on the Zelenskiy Administration taking concrete steps to reform the court system and protect Western-designed anti-corruption institutions, George Kent, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, told VOA last week. Explicitly tying aid to free market changes, he said: “The expectations of Ukrainians and A...

Wednesday, December 16

One quarter of Kyiv restaurants have closed permanently due to coronavirus restrictions this year One quarter of Kyiv restaurants have closed permanently due to coronavirus restrictions this year, estimates a new study, “Consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic and quarantine measures for the leading...

Kyiv City has the highest coronavirus infection rate of Ukraine Kyiv City has the highest coronavirus infection rate of Ukraine, reports the Health Ministry. In the first half of December, Kyiv’s infection rate was 746 per 100,000 people. Close behind were: Cherka...

Almost one third of the Rada’s 424 members have had coronavirus since August Almost one third of the Rada’s 424 members have had coronavirus since August, reports Dmytro Razumkov, chairman of Ukraine’s one chamber parliament. Currently, 21 MPs and 55 Rada employees are undergo...

Fueled by foreign investors looking for high yields, the Finance Ministry sold a record $1.85 billion worth of government bonds at auction yesterday Fueled by foreign investors looking for high yields, the Finance Ministry sold a record $1.85 billion worth of government bonds at auction yesterday. Yields on hryvnia bonds ranged from 10% for 3-mont...

The total amount raised was more than three times the amount raised at last week’s auction. The total amount raised was more than three times the amount raised at last week’s auction. With two more weekly auctions scheduled this month, the Ministry is expected to cover the budget shortfall b...

The Rada passed Ukraine’s 2021 budget yesterday. A fiscally conservative document with a deficit of 5.5% of gross domestic product The Rada passed Ukraine’s 2021 budget yesterday. A fiscally conservative document with a deficit of 5.5% of gross domestic product, slightly less than this year. Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said...

The budget numbers The budget numbers:

In another move to get back on track with the IMF, the Rada overwhelmingly approved yesterday two bills to restore powers to a key agency of Ukraine’s new Western-designed anti-corruption machinery. In another move to get back on track with the IMF, the Rada overwhelmingly approved yesterday two bills to restore powers to a key agency of Ukraine’s new Western-designed anti-corruption machinery. T...

In Washington, Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, warned that the incoming Biden administration will not give a free pass to the Zelenskiy administration In Washington, Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, warned that the incoming Biden administration will not give a free pass to the Zelenskiy administration due to Ukraine’s strategic value in...

Drought pushed down this year’s national grain harvest by 13% yoy, to 65.4 million tons Drought pushed down this year’s national grain harvest by 13% yoy, to 65.4 million tons, Igor Petrashko, minister of Economic Development and Trade, announced yesterday. The fall ended two years of re...

Despite the drops, Minister Petrashko said the 2020 harvest is “three times more than the needs of the domestic market Despite the drops, Minister Petrashko said the 2020 harvest is “three times more than the needs of the domestic market, and also allows us to maintain a leading position in the export of agricultural ...

Thousands of small business owners and workers yesterday protested the impending coronavirus lockdown and end of tax privileges Thousands of small business owners and workers yesterday protested the impending coronavirus lockdown and end of tax privileges, blocking central Kyiv’s Maidan Square and Kreschatyk Street into the ni...

Tuesday, December 15

With demand dropping for coal, Ukraine’s coal mining industry is a shadow of its With demand dropping for coal, Ukraine’s coal mining industry is a shadow of its peak when it employed 500,000 miners, making Ukraine Europe’s third largest coal producer, after Germany and Poland. La...

All unprofitable mines will be closed in this decade All unprofitable mines will be closed in this decade, Olha Buslavets, first deputy Energy Minister said last week at the First German-Ukrainian Energy Day. “Unprofitable mines will be closed within te...

The EU is ready to help Ukrainian miners move out of coal The EU is ready to help Ukrainian miners move out of coal, Torsten Wöllert, a European Commission energy official from Brussels, said at the Germany-Ukraine Day. “We are ready from the EU to help in t...

At the German-sponsored Energy Day, Prime Minister Shmygal thanked Germany for its aid, At the German-sponsored Energy Day, Prime Minister Shmygal thanked Germany for its aid, saying “the project for a fair transformation of coal regions under the new energy partnership will begin this m...

With the EBRD planning to invest up to $100 billion to help EU coal mining towns shift to new vocations through 2027 With the EBRD planning to invest up to $100 billion to help EU coal mining towns shift to new vocations through 2027, the Bank held an online conference Friday to promote a similar shift in Ukraine – ...