16 Mar 2023 11:28

IMF plans to complete discussions on new program with Ukraine in coming days - fund rep

MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that progress was made in discussing a potential new program with the Ukrainian authorities.

"The discussions between IMF staff and the Ukrainian authorities were productive and very good progress has been made towards agreement on a set of policies that could underpin a Fund-supported program. Building on this progress, [IMF] staff and the [Ukrainian] authorities expect to conclude the discussions in the coming days," IMF Resident Representative to Ukraine Vahram Stepanyan said in a statement.

The IMF mission, led by Gavin Gray, held discussions with the Ukrainian authorities in Warsaw on March 8-15.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko said earlier that an IMF mission would discuss the parameters of a potential future program with Ukrainian officials in Warsaw on March 8-15.

"There we will agree on the conditions, the content, the volume, etc. It is still too early to speak of any specific details, because it involves many issues of the fund's internal discussion," Marchenko said in remarks aired on YouTube.

The IMF board has "certain disagreements", as not all countries support Ukraine, he said.

As reported, the Ukrainian authorities expect a new program with the IMF to exceed $15 billion.

Ukraine and the IMF are currently implementing a four-month program, which was approved in December 2022 and does not envisage lending money. The fund's mission conducted a program implementation review on February 13-17, after which a tentative agreement was achieved, paving the way for discussions on a new program with the IMF.

Kiev hopes that the monitoring program, which does not envisage financing, will be replaced at the beginning of the second quarter of 2023 with an Expanded Fund Facility, which will help partly cover this year's $38 billion budget deficit in Ukraine. This gap is currently estimated at $5 billion-$10 billion.