21 Sep 2022 10:57

Ukrainian PM expects IMF mission to start work in country in Oct

MOSCOW. Sept 21 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal expects the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to start working in the country in October.

"The IMF is a reliable partner. Today, I met with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva," Ukrainian media quoted Shmyhal as saying on social media on Tuesday evening. "We agreed to start the IMF mission in October," he wrote, adding that, "We discussed the next steps in the cooperation program."

Shmyhal previously noted that the IMF had agreed, at an informal meeting, to provide Ukraine with another $1.4 billion in emergency financing under the IMF's Rapid Financing Instrument.

Shmyhal in early August appealed to the IMF to intensify joint work on a new cooperation program.

In turn, Georgieva said after the meeting that "our teams are preparing next steps and in-depth discussions on economic policies."

"IMF is a steadfast partner of Ukraine," she added.

Back on September 13, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a virtual meeting with Georgieva and thanked her for the allotment of additional $1.4 billion. According to IMF Alternate Executive Director Vladyslav Rashkovan, this is another $1.4 billion to be allotted within a month in emergency funding under the RFI instrument.

Georgieva said she had discussed with Zelensky how the IMF could continue to support Ukraine. "Agreed to explore ways to ramp up our financial and policy engagement to Ukraine using all tools available to us," she said on social media back then.

Several days ago, Shmyhal criticized the IMF for what he described as a passive stance on the financing of Ukraine.