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Ukraine has sufficient foreign reserves to remain current on all of its external payment obligations, including payments for imports of natural gas, Senior Advisor at the IMF External Relations Department David Hawley said at a regular press briefing in Washington on Feb. 18.

Asked about the possible resumption of the IMF’s cooperation program with Ukraine under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) after the presidential election, Hawley said that the fund is ready to discuss this issue with the Ukrainian authorities.

"I can say only that the fund stands ready to discuss with the authorities policy priorities and prospects for 2010," he said.

IMF officials haven’t yet met with Ukraine’s new authorities since the election, but the fund’s regular contacts with the authorities continue on an ongoing basis, Hawley added.

As reported, the IMF in autumn 2008 decided to disburse about $17 billion under the SBA. Since then, Ukraine has already received three tranches worth almost $11 billion. The first $4.5 billion tranche was given to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in November 2008. The IMF’s second tranche – worth about $3 billion – was extended in May 2009. The funds were split between the NBU and the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The third tranche (worth $3.5 billion) was provided in August 2009 and was at the disposal of the Tymoshenko government alone.

The allocation of the fourth tranche, worth $3.8 billion, was scheduled for November 2009 following the third review of the IMF’s cooperation program with Ukraine. The IMF mission ended its work in Kyiv late in October 2009, but did not issue a positive statement on the completion of the review. The IMF said repeatedly that it expected a consolidated position from the Ukrainian authorities in the question of implementing anti-crisis measures.

After the Ukrainian government received the third tranche, it also used about $2.1 billion through the conversion of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocated by the IMF as part of a general allocation of SDRs among all the IMF member countries.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington on January 14, 2010, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn stressed the possibility of resuming cooperation with Ukraine under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) after the presidential election in Ukraine was over.