IMF representative: Ukraine needs to take further decisive steps to fight corruption

Gerry Rice, IMF  Communications Department Director stated at a briefing in Washington, when answering a question about the income declarations in Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“We think that this [e-declaration] is progress, but Ukraine will need to take further decisive steps to fight corruption, including by making these new institutions fully operational and bringing cases to court,” Rice stressed.

He reminded that the Fund-supported program “has had a major focus on corruption and governance from the very beginning”. In this regard, Rice welcomed the septs taken by the Ukrainian government, namely “the establishment of new institutions to tackle corruption, such as the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the appointment of anti-corruption prosecutors, and more recently, you mentioned this, the e-declaration of assets by high-level officials”.

At the same time, he noted that the anti-corruption policy should be enhanced: “We have tried to promote policies to establish a level playing field and reduce the scope for corruption, including the streamlining of business licenses, improving transparency in public procurement, bringing energy prices to cost recovery levels, cleaning up the banking system, strengthening tax administration, and putting in place an effective framework to prevent money laundering”.

The IMF representative stressed that this comprehensive program is underway in Ukraine and there has been progress, “but more needs to be done”.

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