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Ukraine seeking to bag 2 IMF installments
Journal Staff Report

KIEV, April 9 – Ukraine will seek to obtain two installments in one shot from the International Monetary Fund after resuming borrowing within its $16.4 billion emergency loan, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Thursday.

Ukraine has been so far seeking to obtain one installment, worth $1.85 billion, from the IMF, but the latest comment suggests the government seeks to get at least twice as much, indicating financial difficulties.

“I think [the two installments] can be united,” Tymoshenko said at a press conference. “I believe we will suggest this proposal.”

Tymoshenko made comments a day after meeting Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, an IMF official who is in charge of talks with Ukraine over the resumption of lending to the country.

An IMF team, led by Pazarbasioglu, arrived in Kiev Wednesday, almost three months after the Washington-based lender had suspended the lending to Ukraine citing disagreements on economic policy measures.

Ukraine, whose revenue from exports collapsed due to weak demand for steel, needs IMF money to avoid default on foreign debts this year and next, analysts said. Tymoshenko repeatedly denied reports that the country has been facing default.

Although Ukraine has failed to meet all demands from the IMF, the lender dispatched the team to Ukraine after receiving “strong assurances” from Ukrainian leaders that all measures will be approved soon.

A source in the Ukrainian government said the talks with the IMF team will take about one week. Tymoshenko, after the meeting with Pazarbasioglu, said the government expected the talks to end successfully.

“We will be agreement,” Tymoshenko said. “I think within the next two weeks everything will be all right.”

The hryvnia gained slightly against the U.S. dollar on Thursday closing at 8.00-8.10 to the dollar in trading between commercial banks, dealers said.

Meanwhile, Tymoshenko-led coalition controls about 213 lawmakers in 450-seat Parliament, a minority, and relies on opposition groups to approve the legislation.

This was the reason why Parliament had rejected three out of five anti-crisis bills on March 31, including the bill that is increasing revenue of the Pension Fund, the state-operated social security agency.

Ukraine’s economy is estimated to contract about 20% on the year in the first quarter as falling external demand for steel, the country’s main exports, had forced steel companies to reduce output, analysts said. The government is expected to report the first-quarter GDP statistics later this month. (tl/ez)




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Currencies (in hryvnias)
  28.03.2024 prev
USD 39.23 39.14
RUR 0.425 0.422
EUR 42.44 42.44

Stock Market
  27.03.2024 prev
PFTS 507.0 507.0
source: PFTS

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