KIEV, July 7 - Ukraine's parliament on Thursday passed a pension reform bill that raises the retirement age for women to 60 from 55 and is one of the key conditions for unfreezing a $15 billion IMF program.

The bill was supported by 248 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament and was mostly backed by lawmakers representing the Regions Party and its allies.

President Viktor Yanukovych must sign the bill for it to become law.

The legislation envisions a gradual increase of the retirement age for women from 55 to 60 years.

The new law will come into force on January 1, 2012. The pension age for women will be raised by six months every year for the next 10 years.

The same document stipulates that the retirement age for male civil servants will increase from 60 to 62 years.

The government must conduct a number of drastic and unpopular reforms in order to qualify for future payments from a $15 billion loan program with the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF approved a two-and-a-half year loan program for Ukraine in July last year, disbursing $1.9 billion immediately, but said each consecutive installment would be released only after concrete steps have been made by the Ukrainian government.

The passage of an increase in the retirement age for women before July 8 may help Ukraine secure $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund in August, Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Tyhypko said last month.

The failure to approve the reform may have had personal implication for Tyhypko: he earlier pledged to resign in the event the reform is rejected.

“If Parliament approves the pension reform legislation… in the second reading between July 4 and July 8, we have to expect an IMF team very soon,” Tyhypko said, adding that the lending may be unlocked in August.

The IMF suspended its $15 billion lending program for Ukraine since March delaying its installments after the government had refused to hike gas prices for households by 50% on April 1 and also postponed the pension reform that increases retirement age for women.

Yanukovych has been quietly working with Regions Party and independent lawmakers to make sure the legislation is approved, opening way for the resumption of lending by the IMF, people familiar with the situation said.

Top government officials have been sharply split on whether Ukraine needs to immediately resume borrowing from the IMF.

Tyhypko believes that a quick resumption of the lending is important for the Ukrainian economy, and would allow corporations to borrow internationally at lower rates.

But his powerful opponent, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, believes Ukraine can do without the IMF money, at least in the short term, and even asked the Washington-based lender to ease some of its demands. (tl/ez)