ST ANDREWS, Scotland, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Saturday it would resume work with Ukraine only after January elections, after a move to hike wages pushed its $16.4 billion bailout "off-track."
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko — who faces a Jan. 17 vote battle to keep his post — signed the wage bill last month, flaunting IMF recommendations and putting a further strain on the budget.
The IMF initially said it would continue to work with Ukraine, expressing hope that the government could return its focus to economic stability even before the election. But on Saturday IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn seemed to signal a resolution was not near.
"When people are running for elections, decisions may be a bit different from what you decided with them one year ago when the programme was being set up," he told Reuters television on the sidelines of a G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Scotland.
"Now we are in a special period, so certainly we have to wait for the result of the election to be able to resume our work with the government."
Elections have also prompted IMF to delay its aid review to Romania, where a centrist government was toppled last month.
But Strauss-Kahn said the situation there — unlike in Ukraine — did not give serious cause for concern.
"On Romania, it is a normal programme. Of course there is a change of government, so there is some delay, but I have no special concern about this programme," he said. (Writing by Toni Vorobyova, editing by Mike Peacock)
