National Bank of Ukraine governor negotiating with IMF in Washington
MOSCOW. Dec 15 (Interfax) - National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Governor Andrei Pyshny said while meeting with high-ranking International Monetary Fund (IMF) officers in Washington that he hoped the IMF would approve the Program Monitoring with Board Involvement (PMB) on December 19 and reiterated that Ukraine and the NBU would honor all of their obligations under the program.
Ukrainian media have reported with reference to the NBU social media post on Thursday that Pyshny and his deputy, Sergei Nikolaichuk, met with IMF Deputy Director for Strategy, Policy and Review Uma Ramakrishnan, IMF Mission Chief for Ukraine Gavin Gray, IMF Executive Director Paul Hilbers, and a group of eight other European members of the IMF Board .
The NBU delegation thanked the IMF for supporting Ukraine and considerably intensifying cooperation in the past few months.
Among the key subjects of the conversation was the consolidation of efforts of all donors to provide Ukraine with further financing, the reports said.
"We are amid an ideal storm now," Pyshny said. "Certainly, this requires more efficiency than usual, [we] should be as productive as possible, act boldly and sometimes creatively, and go beyond the conventional procedures to look for and find ways to overcome crises," he said.
The parties also discussed the state of the Ukrainian economy and challenges facing its financial sector, the NBU's efforts to handle them and ensure the banking system's smooth operation in the difficult conditions. The parties also mentioned the importance of launching a new IMF program for financing Ukraine after the PMB implementation is completed.
As reported earlier, Ukraine requested a four-month IMF monitoring program. Kiev expects that in early 2023, it will be possible to move from the PMB towards a standard Extended Fund Facility, which would help cover next year's estimated $38 billion budget deficit.
Gray said on November 23 that Ukraine and the IMF reached a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) on the PMB.