Ukraine planning talks with IMF on new support program - NBU

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kyrylo Shevchenko said this in an interview with Reuters.

He recalled that the threat of major war in Ukraine after Russia massed troops and announced their deployment in Moscow-controlled separatist regions has pummeled Ukrainian assets. According to Shevchenko, the central bank has sold more than $1.4 billion in forex reserves to keep the hryvnia stable since January. "We need to discuss a new program with the IMF now, there will be a very good platform - the spring meeting of the IMF in April. It will be a good signal for the markets that we expect the IMF mission to start soon," Shevchenko said.

Ukraine is relying on such assistance as spiking yields have hobbled borrowing on external capital markets. "We hope that in the next few months the country will have the opportunity to compensate for the complicated access to foreign markets with sources of official funding," Shevchenko said.

He said that, due to the interventions, the volume of net international reserves fell below the level agreed in the memorandum with the IMF. But he did not think this would derail Ukraine's prospects of securing the next tranche under the current Stand-By Arrangement.

He suggested the IMF would be open to discussing a revised target level of reserve. "Naturally, no one expected that Ukraine would need to spend significant amounts from reserves in order to smooth out currency fluctuations at the beginning of 2022," Shevchenko said.

op