The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Ron Van Rooden will work in Kyiv on May 10-18 as part of the second review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, the fund said in a statement on Thursday.
“An IMF mission led by Mr Ron Van Rooden will be working in Kyiv during May 10-18. The mission will continue policy discussions with the Ukrainian authorities in the context of the 2nd review of the Extended Fund Facility,” IMF Resident Representative in Kyiv Ukraine Jerome Vacher was quoted as saying.
As reported, IMF Chief Christine Lagarde at a meeting with Ukrainian delegation on the sidelines of the spring meeting of the Fund and the World Bank in Washington on April 20 said that the IMF mission intends to visit Ukraine soon. After that the new Ukrainian government led by Volodymyr Groysman decided to raise the natural gas price for households to the market level, which is one of the key conditions for the continued cooperation with the Fund.
The four-year EFF program for Ukraine totaling SDR 12.348 billion (about $17 billion), opened by the IMF in March 2015, originally foresaw quarterly revisions of the program, the issue of four tranches to Kyiv in 2015, another four in 2016. However, at present the country has received only the first tranche of funds for $5 billion and the second one worth $1.7 billion.
The IMF official representatives said that the Fund needs more clarity about the status of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian parliamentary coalition for the completion of the second review of the EFF and the provision of the third tranche.
