The next visit of the International Monetary Fund's mission to Ukraine has been postponed until late October 2011, whereas the Fund earlier scheduled it for Aug. 29 through Sept. 9, the IMF said in a statement posted on its Web site.
"The authorities [of Ukraine] reaffirmed their commitment to the objectives of the SBA program and the implementation of pending measures. The next Fund mission to Kyiv is now scheduled for late October," David Lipton, Special Advisor to the Managing Director of the IMF, said following a meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian government and the National Bank of Ukraine in Washington on Wednesday.
As reported, the IMF decided to renew its loan partnership with Ukraine in the summer of 2010 through a new stand-by program.
The approved stand-by program for Ukraine is 10 billion in special drawing rights (SDR, around $16 billion), which is the IMF’s third biggest assistance program following those for Greece and Romania.
In late July 2010, Kyiv received the first tranche of SDR 1.25 billion. The IMF decided in December to allocate a second tranche worth SDR 1 billion.
The program foresaw the future quarterly allocation of tranches, each worth SDR 1 billion, with the exception of the last tranche, which will be worth SDR 750 million.
However, an IMF mission that worked in Kyiv in March 2011 could not recommend to the IMF Executive Board that it approve another tranche for Ukraine.
The IMF expected Ukraine to approve pension reform and settle the problem of low prices of natural gas for households – measures required for it to get the third tranche under the SBA.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Social Policy Minister Sergiy Tigipko said that due to a delay in financing, two tranches of the stand-by loan could be combined, which will help replenish the foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine for about $3 billion.
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