KIEV, April 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine this year must pay off nine billion dollars of its foreign debts, Rada-appointed Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said on Friday,

"$9 billion must be repaid until the end of this year. These are earlier-accumulated debts," he said.

Talks on loans with the (International Monetary Fund) IMF, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank and other structures were "practically completed", he said, noting that funds from abroad would be used to repay the debt. "The funds will be taken as loans not to put pressure on currency reserves. The money will not be 'spent on food', as it was in previous years," he added.

As of April 1, the gold and foreign currency reserves of Ukraine's National Bank totaled $15.08 billion, 2.47% less than a month before.