Ukraine will continue talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to continue cooperation, Acting Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov has said.
“We will continue talks, we will be persuading. If we agree, it would
be fine. If there is misunderstanding – we will live, not die
definitely,” he said on the air of the Shuster Live TV show on Friday
night.
He noted that the main point at issue is the question of increasing gas prices for the population.
As reported, the current Stand-By Arrangement between Ukraine and the IMF will terminate in late 2012.
As reported, in late July 2010, the IMF decided to renew its loan
partnership with Ukraine through a new Stand-By Arrangement worth SDR 10
billion (over $15 billion). According to the NBU, the country succeeded
in getting two tranches for a total of $3.4 billion.
The new program was frozen at the stage of the second review in the
spring of 2011. For over a year, Ukraine has been trying to persuade the
IMF to drop its objections to the government’s subsidizing natural gas
tariffs for households until the completion of its gas talks with
Russia.
