Ukraine, IMF to discuss new stand-by agreement December 7 to 17 - Alier

KYIV, December 1 /UKRINFORM/. The International Monetary Fund mission led by Chris Jarvis will be staying in Ukraine December 7 through 17 to discuss a new stand-by agreement.

This is indicated in a statement by the IMF Resident Representative for Ukraine Max Alier released on Friday.

"At the request of the authorities an IMF mission headed by Mr. Christopher Jarvis will visit Ukraine on December 7-17 to initiate negotiations on a new Stand-By Arrangement (SBA)," the statement reads.

As reported, the term of the current program for cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF, which was launched in July 2010 and was designed for 2.5 years, is expiring. It provided for the allocation to Ukraine of 15.15 billion U.S. dollars.

Ukraine received the first tranche of the IMF loan in the amount of 1.89 billion U.S. dollars immediately after the approval of the program. December 22, 2010 the IMF decided to allocate to Ukraine the second tranche of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars. However, since 2011 the country has not won a single tranche, in the first place because of its failure to meet the requirements of the IMF to increase tariffs for gas and heating for the population.