Ukraine expects new programme deal with IMF – PM

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk expressed the belief that a staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a new programme can be signed in October after negotiations in Washington, Interfax Ukraine reported on Monday.

“In a few weeks, our group of ministers will pay a visit to the IMF headquarters … Perhaps, we’ll conclude a staff level agreement at this meeting. This means we will agree on the memorandum text,” Honcharuk said at a press briefing in Kiev.

Earlier, the first deputy head of the National Bank of Ukraine Ekaterina Rozhkova announced that the next stage of negotiations on a new IMF program will be held at the annual meeting of IMF member countries in Washington.

Ukraine is negotiating the possibility of opening a new program of five to ten billion U.S. dollars. The IMF mission visited Ukraine in September and stated that they would continue the discussion of the new program in the coming weeks.

The new program of cooperation with the IMF is to replace a standby arrangement of 3.9 billion U.S. dollars that expires next year.

Source: Xinhua