WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 - The International Monetary Fund said it is "very close" to concluding its latest review of Ukraine's $17.5 billion bailout and expects its board to consider releasing additional funds in the second half of September.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told a regular news briefing that some technical issues related to the timing of further actions to be taken by Ukraine's government to meet program requirements still needed to be worked out.

"I think we are very close to concluding" the Ukraine review, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

The government of President Petro Poroshenko has been "very focused on responding to the international community requests concerning the fight against corruption, concerning the financial status of the banking system, concerning the latest reforms that were included in the program," Lagarde said, adding that implementation of reforms was needed to sustain the program.

Neither Lagarde nor Rice discussed the amount expected to be released to Ukraine in the next tranche.

Ukraine's finance minister, Oleksandr Danylyuk, told Reuters on Tuesday he expects about $1 billion to be released, adding that this would unlock an additional $1 billion in funds guaranteed by the United States.

The latest IMF tranche was initially envisaged at about $1.7 billion. Some Ukrainian officials have said they expected the amount to be reduced because of slower-than-expected progress on reforms aimed at limiting the power of vested interests and modernizing the economy.

Since August 2015, Ukraine has received no new IMF disbursements from a $17.5 billion bailout package approved in April 2015.

Any resumption of funding would have to be approved by the board, which represents 189 member countries.

The IMF loans have helped Ukraine pull itself out of two years of economic recession caused by a separatist conflict in its industrial east. But a third tranche of cash from the Fund has been delayed since October due to political upheaval.

Ukraine is currently awaiting the next tranche from the bailout, intended to help stabilize the country following the 2014 ouster of the pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych. So far $6.6 billion have been disbursed.

After two years of war, the country has suffered deep economic contractions, with GDP dropping 9.9 percent last year after falling 6.6 percent in 2014. (rt/ez)