The government expects a memorandum with the IMF any day now. Photo: Flickr
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced a fruitful dialogue with the International Monetary Fund. According to him, virtual negotiations regarding the first revision of the Stand-By program entered final straight.
"Literally any day now, we are finalizing the preparation of a Memorandum on our program extension with the International Monetary Fund," he said during the Kyiv International Forum.
Shmyhal stressed that the Ukrainian side had fulfilled all the conditions set before it and expected to receive the tranche by the end of this year. He did not give a more specific time period.
Context. Meanwhile, the previous day, Serhiy Marchenko, Minister of Finance, said that the IMF mission had a new question—the fund was interested in how high gas prices could affect the fiscal part of the budget and state-owned companies this year.
The IMF virtual mission on the revision of the Stand-By program started working in Ukraine on September 21. Prior to its start, Gerry Rice, the Head of the IMF Communications Department, said that the subjects for discussion between the Fund and the Ukrainian side would remain unchanged: the independence of the National Bank of Ukraine, judicial reform, and the fight against corruption.
Kyrylo Shevchenko, the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, said that the amount of the second Stand-by tranche could be higher than the planned $700 million provided the tranches are consolidated.