IMF on June 29 to consider allocation of second EFF tranche to Ukraine

MOSCOW. June 28 (Interfax) - The executive board of the International Monetary Fund on June 29 is planning its first review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement for Ukraine, following which the IMF plans to allocate the second tranche of around $900 million, Ukrainian media reported, citing the IMF's website.

The corresponding matter is on the agenda of the IMF's Executive Board meeting, along with the matter of the fourth revision of the EFF Arrangement for Cameroon, the IMF said.

The IMF and Ukrainian authorities on May 30 reportedly reached a staff-level agreement on an updated set of economic and financial policies as part of the first revision under the four-year EFF Arrangement for $15.6 billion, according to a press release posted on the fund's website.

Ukraine had met all quantitative performance criteria at the end of April and all structural benchmarks at the end of May, thereby paving the way for the IMF's Executive Board to consider allocating the second tranche of about $900 million (SDR 663.9 million) to Ukraine under the EFF Arrangement, the fund said.

The EFF Arrangement was approved on March 31 this year, following which the first tranche of $2.7 billion was allocated. The planned schedule for the EFF Arrangement envisages allocating three more tranches of SDR 664 million to Ukraine in mid-June and mid-October this year, and at the end of February, following the results of the first, second, and third revisions, when compliance with the obligations for the end of April, June, and December, respectively, of this year is assessed.