Ukraine waiting for $2 bln from IMF after budget approval

The president's representative in the Verkhovna Rada, Iryna Lutsenko, told this to journalists in parliament on Thursday, November 22, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"About two billion [U.S. dollars] are expected. I think that as soon as the budget is voted and signed, and the IMF has already spoken about it repeatedly, there will be no delay with financing and allocation of the tranche to Ukraine," Lutsenko said.

On October 19, the IMF and the Ukrainian authorities reached an agreement on economic policies for a new 14-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). The new SBA will replace the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), approved in March 2015 and set to expire in March 2019. The new SBA, with a requested access of SDR 2.8 billion (equivalent to $3.9 billion), will provide an anchor for the authorities' economic policies during 2019.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on November 16 that he hoped Ukraine would receive a new IMF tranche in December.

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