KYIV, Oct 24 - Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on Wednesday he hoped Parliament would pass the 2019 budget by Dec. 1, adding that the government did not plan to raise gas prices again during the heating season running to April, Reuters reported.

Ukraine must pass a budget in line with the requirements of the International Monetary Fund in order to qualify for more IMF aid.

“I hope that ... and it is necessary that Ukraine has a balanced, absolutely realistic budget before December 1,” Groysman said during a televised cabinet meeting.

Ukraine and the IMF earlier this month agreed a new $3.9 billion assistance package with Ukraine, after the country’s government took the politically unpopular decision of meeting a key condition of the fund by raising household gas tariffs.

Ukraine has been also seeking to tap international financial markets with a 10-year, dollar-denominated bond issue.

BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have been named as lead managers on the deal, which will be the lead managers.

It is the first long-dated dollar debt since Ukraine raised $2.5 billion from investors last November; that was its first dollar bond since Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014.

Last month an English court ruling gave Ukraine a boost in its long-running battle with Russia over the non-payment of $3 billion of bonds sold by Ukraine in 2013.

Ukraine’s acting Finance Minister Oksana Markarova will hold a series of meetings with investors this week in preparation for the bond sale, which will take place “subject to market conditions” according to one of the banks involved. (rt/ez)