Ukraine expects IMF board meeting to review the EFF program on March 21
MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax) - Ukraine has fulfilled all obligations for the third review of the Extended Financing Facility and expects a positive decision by the International Monetary Fund's Executive Board on the disbursement of a fourth EFF tranche of about $900 million in the near future, Ukrainian media reported, quoting Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko.
"We are expecting an IMF board meeting in the near future. I believe the meeting, at which a decision on Ukraine will be made, is planned for March 21," he said. Footage of him making the remarks was posted on YouTube.
Marchenko said the funds would be immediately after a successful discussion of the Ukraine issue at the board meeting.
"So far we are fulfilling all our obligations. And I don't see any particular problems getting in the way of us continuing to fulfill them in 2024," he said, predicting further cooperation with the IMF under the EFF program.
He said Ukraine still considers the main scenario to be the receipt of direct budgetary support from the United States this year.
"We hope that a solution will be found in the lower house [of the U.S. parliament]. There is now every reason for this. We hope that direct budget support will continue, this is important for cooperation with the IMF, for establishing a pool of partners," Marchenko said.
The Ukraine issue is not in the official IMF calendar of events for March 21.
The four-year EFF totaling around $15.6 billion was approved on March 31, 2023, and is part of a $122 billion package of international support for Ukraine. Kiev has already received three EFF tranches.
The U.S. Senate in February passed a $95 billion emergency defense spending bill, which would provide about $60 billion, including $7.85 billion in budget support, to Ukraine, and some $14 billion to Israel. The document was then submitted to the House of Representatives, but there's still no certainty regarding if and when it will be debated due to the reluctance of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to put the issue to a vote. An attempt this week to bypass the Speaker and gather the 218 votes needed to do so has stalled, with 177 of the minority Democrats signing up and no new votes yet materializing.
This week, Johnson said he was drafting his own Ukraine aid bill, but he warned it would differ significantly from the $95 billion foreign aid package approved by the Senate in February.