KIEV, March 9 – There was a growing opposition among political parties on Monday to anti-crisis measures suggested by the International Monetary Fund as a condition for resuming lending within Ukraine’s $16.4 billion standby loan.

Volodymyr Lytvyn, the speaker of Parliament and the leader of a small pro-government group, said some of the measures, such as a gradual increase in retirement age, may be rejected by the authorities.

Lytvyn de-facto joined recent complaints from the opposition Regions Party, which had vowed to take extreme steps, up to blocking the work of Parliament, to prevent approval of these anti-crisis bills.

Lytvyn’s comments show there is no majority in Parliament that would be willing to support the measures, suggesting upcoming talks with the IMF may be needed to try to modify the anti-crisis measures.

Ukraine needs financial support from the IMF to avert a looming default on foreign debts within the next two years, and to prevent a financial meltdown within the banking industry.

The development come amid reports that the IMF has returned back to Ukraine a letter signed by the country’s leaders and pledging to implement economic reforms needed to overcome the crisis, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported Saturday.

The letter, signed by President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Lytvyn, was sent to the IMF a week ago to show commitment for the reforms in exchange for the financial support.

Lytvyn said on Monday he was not aware of whether the letter had been returned.

But Viktor Baloha, the chief of staff at the Yushchenko office, said there was a growing sense of impatience within the IMF for Ukraine to show concrete results fighting the economic crisis.

“The letter went to the IMF, they heard the message,” Baloha said in an interview with Inter television Sunday. “[The say] We believe you, but when will you start taking decisions? When will you amend the budget?”

“We have to talk less and to work more,” Baloha said. “I hope that they [the IMF team] will come back and we will work together.”

The anti-crisis measures apparently aim at gradually increasing the retirement age - currently 60 for men and 55 for women - as well as eliminating state subsidies for natural gas supplied to households. (tl/ez)