KIEV, May 4 – An International Monetary Fund team will hold talks with the government next week to see whether Ukraine can qualify for resumption of a $17.5 billion loan, a newspaper reported Wednesday, citing a source in the government.

The team will arrive in Ukraine and will spend time between May 10 and May 18 talking to government, the National Bank of Ukraine among others, Ukryainska Pravda reported.

The development comes as Ukraine seeks to receive the next installment of $1.7 billion as soon as in June, according to Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk.

Parliament recently passed energy tariff reforms legislation demanded by the IMF, but lawmakers would have to reconvene in May to pass laws that are a further precondition to securing the IMF funds.

Ukraine would seek to also discuss aspects of its planned pension reforms, Danyliuk said without going into specifics regarding what Kiev might want to change.

“We are in good shape now,” Danyliuk recently told Reuters.

Danyliuk joined Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman’s newly formed cabinet in April, which took power after months of political turmoil that stalled reforms and Ukraine’s efforts to stamp out endemic corruption.

Ukraine’s chief international backers – the IMF, the U.S. government and the European Union, have pressed Kiev to accelerate the pace of reforms, and the EU has publicly warned it not to renege on existing commitments.

The economy has been battered by a Russian-backed separatist conflict in its industrial east, although Danyliuk said the economy has bottomed out. He declined to give precise predictions for growth this year.

Danyliuk said he wanted to turn the finance ministry into an “engine that drives reform” to show potential foreign investors that Ukraine aims to make their life easier.

A priority is transforming an inefficient tax office by merging it over the next two years with the customs service to create an efficient, combined system that will crack down on corrupt practices. (rt/ez)