KYIV, June 30 – The Board of Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the first review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Ukraine and approved the immediate allocation of the second tranche of SDR 663.9 million (about $890 million), which will be used to support the budget.

"The authorities have made strong progress toward their commitments under the EFF under challenging conditions, meeting all applicable quantitative performance criteria through end-April and structural benchmarks through end-June, and remain highly committed to the program," the Fund said in a release on Thursday on its website.