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IMF to decide on Ukraine's arrangement on March 20

In March 2015, the IMF approved Ukraine’s four-year $17.5 billion that replaced the previous arrangement of 2014, which had not been implemented

WASHINGTON, March 9. /TASS/. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board of Directors’ meeting to review the IMF arrangement with Ukraine will be held on March 20, IMF Spokesman Gerry Rice said at a briefing on Thursday.

The meeting’s participants are expected to complete the third review of the arrangement which is necessary for allocating another tranche to Ukraine.

Talks with Danilyuk

Rice confirmed that the arrangement had been discussed a few days ago during Ukraine’s Finance Minister Alexander Danilyuk’s visit to the IMF headquarters. He met with International Monetary Fund’s First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton and some IMF experts. However, the spokesman did not go into the details of the meetings.

IMF arrangement

On March 4, a statement by Ron van Rooden, Mission Chief for Ukraine at the International Monetary Fund, was released saying that the "IMF staff has reached agreement with the Ukrainian authorities on an updated Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies."

"This paves the way for consideration of the third review of the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) by the IMF’s Executive Board, together with the 2016 Article IV consultation, in the second half of March," the statement read. "The completion of the third review will enable the disbursement of SDR 734.05 million (about US$ 1 billion)," the statement added.

In March 2015, the IMF approved Ukraine’s four-year $17.5 billion that replaced the previous arrangement of 2014, which had not been implemented. Under the new arrangement, Kiev received an initial $5 bln tranche, followed by a $1.7 bln tranche and a $1 bln one. The latest tranche was provided in September 2016.

The arrangement supports the Ukrainian "government’s economic program, which aims to put the economy on the path to recovery, restore external sustainability, strengthen public finances, maintain financial stability, and support economic growth by advancing structural and governance reforms, while protecting the most vulnerable."

In 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine expects the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to provide six tranches totaling $6 bln.