Ukraine close to IMF deal as parliament stutters

October 21, 2008 at 19:40 | Reuters
KIEV, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Ukraine is on the verge of gaining a loan from the International Monetary Fund, its prime minister said on Tuesday, but the ex-Soviet state's fractious parliament failed to debate measures needed to secure the deal.

Ukrainian officials have said that the IMF could lend as much as $14 billion, although the Fund has not commented so far on its week-old mission to Kiev.

"At the moment we have practically concluded our negotiations with the IMF," Tymoshenko told a meeting of economists. "We have 90 percent agreed on a package of measures which are necessary."

"We have started talks with the IMF so that the government could ... receive financial aid literally within two weeks which could stabilise all the (financial) processes."

A presidential aide said some of the conditions set by the Fund included reducing social spending and balancing the budget -- measures which parliament had been due to discuss.

President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved parliament this month and called a December election after his coalition with Tymoshenko collapsed after months of rows that have stalled economic reform.

Late on Monday, he issued a decree allowing the chamber to resume work for "a few days" to pass anti-crisis measures, as well as approve funding for the election. But the session fell into disarray.

POLITICIANS STALL

Tymoshenko's supporters, opposed to the election and any notion of funding it, blocked the speaker's rostrum and the sitting was declared closed.

It also appeared that the measures to be put to parliament had been proposed by Tymoshenko's government, as opposed to a rival package fronted by the president a day earlier.

Analysts are worried whether the government, firms and banks are capable of refinancing their debt as global lending grinds to a halt. The government has been unable to go ahead with a sale of Eurobonds, despite conducting a road show in June.

The hryvnia currency hit an all-time low this month at 5.9 to the dollar, undermined by a gaping current account deficit. The central bank has a difficult balancing act between spending billions of its reserves propping it up or letting it weaken.

Tymoshenko later told a briefing that some of the loan now under discussion could go towards bolstering those reserves. The rest would prop up the banking system.

Ukraine exhibited the first symptom of a crisis when its sixth largest bank, Prominvest, was placed in receivership on Oct. 8. But authorities stress that a run on the bank was caused by rumours of a murky takeover, not foreign investor sentiment.

Although political crisis has gripped Ukraine almost without pause since the 2004 "Orange Revolution" which swept Yushchenko to power, the economy has still recorded annual growth of around 7 percent on average.

The IMF, however, says growth will likely slow drastically to 2.5 percent next year from 6.4 percent this year. (Reporting by Natalya Zinets; writing by Sabina Zawadzki; editing by Patrick Graham)