IMF to review $8.1B agreement for Ukraine in coming days

The International Monetary Fund is expected to review a new $8.1 billion lending program for Ukraine at the staff level in the coming days.

According to Ukrinform, citing Reuters, if approved, the program would replace the current $15.5 billion IMF facility and would be aimed at maintaining economic stability and public spending during the fifth year of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said that the Ukrainian authorities had met the prior conditions required to advance the request for a new program, including submission of a draft law on the labor code and adoption of a budget.

She noted that Ukraine’s economic growth in 2025 was likely to be below 2%. Due to the war, the country’s economy is growing more slowly and with larger fiscal and current account balances. “Russia's invasion continues to take a heavy toll on Ukraine's people and its economy,” Kozack said.

The World Bank, the Ukrainian government, and the European Union are finalizing a new estimate for the cost to rebuild Ukraine, which is expected to be released next week. Experts predict a significant increase compared with last year’s estimate of $524 billion, due to large-scale Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.

The agreement assumes that the war will end this year, but it also includes a "downside scenario" in which the war continues until 2028, according to IMF officials.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said last week that the provision of €90 billion in EU funding for Ukraine was linked to the approval of a new four-year IMF program.

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