Ukraine asks IMF to send mission for talks on standby program
KYIV. March 18 (Interfax) - The new Ukrainian government has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to send its mission to Kyiv for talks on the resumption of cooperation under the standby program, Director of the IMF External Relations Department Caroline Atkinson said at a briefing in Washington on Thursday.
We do not have a date, she said, when asked about when a possible visit might occur.
Currently, the IMF has a technical mission in Kyiv, which is looking at the state of public finances and will brief IMF representatives on the matter after returning from Ukraine, Atkinson said.
It was reported that the country's presidential administration and government announced that an IMF mission was to arrive in Kyiv in a week to conduct talks on the resumption of cooperation. The technical mission is due to finish work in Kyiv on Friday, March 19, said Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Tyhypko.
In the fall of 2008 the IMF decided to grant an almost $17 billion loan to Ukraine under its standby program. By now a total of almost $11 billion has been paid in three loan tranches.
The fourth tranche, $3.8 billion, was scheduled to be paid in November 2009 after the third program review. The IMF mission finished its work in Kyiv in late October but made no positive statement after the review was completed. The IMF made repeated public statements that it expects the Ukrainian authorities to take a consolidated stand on the issue of implementing anti-crisis measures and adopting the 2010 budget.