KIEV, Feb. 19 – The Ukrainian authorities and the International Monetary Fund have different ideas about whether the country will be able to pay its foreign debts this year.

While the IMF believes Ukraine has enough reserves to pay the debts and natural gas bills, a top Ukrainian financial sector official has warned the country may default.

“The main problem still remaining is the problem of paying foreign debts,” Viktor Suslov, the chief of the State Commission on Financial Markets Regulation, said in an interview with Channel 5. “Foreign exchange reserves are not enough for this and it will be impossible to pay them.”

Ukraine will have to pay an estimated $30 billion in sovereign and corporate foreign debts this year, while the country’s hard currency reserves were at about $25.3 billion as of January 31, according to the central bank.

“The threat of default is absolutely not overcome. It persists,” Suslov said, adding that Ukraine will need to “seek rescheduling and restructuring.”

“We hope that creditors will come half way to meet us by allowing rescheduling, or perhaps there will be new foreign credits,” he said.

Meanwhile, an IMF official said that Ukraine will be able to continue its foreign debt payments, in addition to paying for Russian natural gas imports.

“Our view is that Ukraine has sufficient foreign reserves to remain current on all external payment obligations, including gas,” David Hawley, a senior adviser in the fund’s external relations department, said in a briefing in Washington, Bloomberg reported.

The National Bank of Ukraine has been repeatedly providing its foreign exchange reserves to Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national energy company, to be able to pay for Russian gas imports.

The IMF suspended its $16.4 billion two-year stand-by loan program to Ukraine in November 2009 after the government had failed to approve 2010 budget and narrow its budget deficit.

Ukraine has so far received $10.6 billion in three installments from the IMF between November 2008 and November 2009. The IMF said it may resume lending after the presidential election.

Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych defeated Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and is expected to be inaugurated on February 25.

The speculations over Ukraine’s ability to survive debts payments come as the country has suffered one of its worst economic contractions in 2009.

The country’s economy is estimated to have contacted by 15% on the year, led by shrinking steel exports, due to weakening demand overseas caused by the global credit crunch. Ukraine’s banking sector was also badly affected by the crunch. (tl/ez)