KIEV, March 14 – Ukraine postponed for at least a week a raise of its national retirement age amid lack of political agreement among lawmakers, Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said Monday.

The delay comes as a setback for the government, which has requested the change – a key demand of the International Monetary Fund - be debated and approved this week.

“Despite the proposal from the Cabinet of Ministers, it’s not on the agenda yet,” Lytvyn said. “We have to hold additional consultations on this sensitive issue.”

The failure to approve the legislation would most likely mean that the IMF will postpone its $1.55 billion installment to Ukraine that was expected in April.

The lending has been already de-facto delayed for almost a month as the government has originally expected the Washington-based lender to release the money in March.

But Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Tyhypko said recently that April is the earliest when the IMF board of directors will meet to decide on the lending to the country.

The IMF is “watching how we proceed with the decision on the pension reform,” Tyhypko said at a recent press conference. No reform will mean that “we cannot fight the state budget deficit and we will continue to increase our debts.”

The pension reform legislation calls for raising women’s retirement age to 60 from 55 and men’s retirement age to 62 from 60. Tyhypko said the increase in women’s retirement age may start in May.

The IMF agreed in July 2010 to provide Ukraine with $15.2 billion, the country’s second bailout loan in two years.

The IMF already released $3.4 billion in two installments last year, helping the government to cover the state budget deficit and to increase foreign currency-reserves.

A team of IMF specialists visited Kiev in February to check the government’s economic policies and said then that more talks were needed to open the way for the payment of around $1.55 billion. (tl/ez)