You're reading: Tigipko: Laws on pension reform should be adopted in early summer

Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister – Social Policy Minister Sergiy Tigipko has said he believes that laws on the pension reforms should be adopted in June or early July of this year.

"I believe we should take a corresponding decision in June, or in early July at the latest. Then in late July or August we will be able to receive a decision from the IMF about the disbursement of the next tranches [of its loan under a stand-by arrangement with Ukraine]. It could happen that we receive two tranches at a time," Tigipko said at a press conference in Lviv on Thursday when answering a question from an Interfax-Ukraine reporter.

According to him, these could be two tranches of around $1.5 billion each.

He also said that the funds would go to the National Bank of Ukraine’s foreign exchange reserve.

If Ukraine doesn’t adopt the legislation within this timeframe, Kyiv could have serious problems with the IMF, the vice premier said.

According to Tigipko, if Ukraine fails to conduct pension reform and doesn’t receive money from the IMF, the country’s investment ratings will immediately drop.

"We will start to lose investments… And it would be very hard to borrow money from abroad. And we will resort to the market of domestic borrowings and repeat the mistake of [former Premier] Yulia Tymoshenko’ government," the vice premier said.