WASHINGTON, April 3. /TASS/. The IMF Board of Directors has decided to allocate $1 billion to Ukraine as part of the macro-financial assistance program, President of Ukraine Pyotr Poroshenko said on Monday.
"That’s another sign of recognition of Ukrainian reforms!" he wrote on his Twitter page.
As it became known to TASS from sources close to the IMF, on Monday, the Fund’s Board of Directors completed the third review of the anti-crisis economic program Ukraine is implementing with the support of the Fund.
On the results of the review the Fund decided to grant another credit tranche worth about $1bln to Kiev.
The discussion of the Ukrainian program was conducted in the absence of IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. At that time she was making a speech about slowing of productivity growth in the global economy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
The consideration of the Ukrainian program was initially scheduled for March 20, but was postponed. Experts said the meeting was delayed due to transport blockade of Donbass and sanctions against the Ukrainian banks with participation of the Russian capital.
Poroshenko publicly acknowledged that his country needed the tranche of the IMF "as the air to breathe", since it is also connected with "macro-financial assistance from the EU."
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.
This year, the National Bank of Ukraine expects six tranches totaling $6 billion from the IMF and the European Union.