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Kiev plans to swiftly finish talks with IMF on impacts of blockade of Donbass

At a meeting of Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council on March 15, President Pyotr Poroshenko suggested all transport links with Donbass be cut

© REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

KIEV, March 19. /TASS/. Ukraine plans to swiftly conduct consultations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the latter’s demand that Ukraine’s potential economic losses over the blockade of Donbass be calculated, Ukrainian Finance Minister Alexander Daniluyk said on Sunday.

UKRAINE CRISIS

"These calculations are important for both sides to ensure the maximal efficiency of the program. Relevant consultations have already been kicked off. We plan to complete them as soon as possible," the ministry’s press service quoted him as saying.

Ukraine’s finance ministry has confirmed that the issue of an anti-crisis program for Ukraine was withdrawn from the agenda of an IMF Board of Directors’ meeting due to be held on Monday. According to the ministry, "the postponement of the meeting stems from the need to specify economic impacts of the measures Ukraine is taking in response to the blockade and seizure of Ukrainian companies in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions’ areas that are not controlled by the government and over Russia’s recognition of documents issued in these territories."

Earlier on Sunday, a well-informed source told TASS that the IMF Board of Directors had postponed discussion of the Ukrainian anti-crisis program originally planned for Monday. The meeting was expected to conclude the third review of the program and sanction another loan tranche to Ukraine worth one billion U.S. dollars.

At a meeting of Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council on March 15, President Pyotr Poroshenko suggested all transport links with Donbass be cut. A relevant decree was signed on the following day. According to Ukraine’s Finance Minister Alexander Danilyuk, Ukraine’s losses from the blockade of Donbass will amount to two percent of GDP.

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