KIEV, Nov. 16 - Experts from the International Monetary Fund have approved the first review of the IMF-Ukraine Stand-By Arrangement under which Kiev hopes to receive a second loan tranche of about $1.6 billion.

"The IMF mission has reached staff-level agreement with the Ukrainian authorities on the conclusion of the first review under the SBA. The authorities' Letter of Intent will now be submitted to IMF Management. It is expected that following the completion of prior actions by the authorities, the Executive Board will consider the review before the end of the year," the IMF quoted Mission Chief for Ukraine Thanos Arvanitis as saying.

He noted that the completion of the review would release SDR 1 billion (about $1.6 billion), of which $1 billion would be provided for budget support.

"[Ukraine's] performance under the SBA has been broadly in line with program objectives. All end-September quantitative performance criteria were met and steady progress was made on structural reforms," Arvanitis said.