KIEV, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached an agreement in principle on gas price adjustment, a key element for the continuation of the aid program for Kiev, local media reported Tuesday, citing a senior Ukrainian official.
According to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Andriy Kobolev, the chairman of Ukraine's state-run energy company Naftogaz, said that the agreement envisages that gas prices for consumers in Ukraine will be gradually increased to the market level by 2020.
The gas price hike is one of the main reforms Ukraine must implement for receiving the next tranche from the IMF's 17.5-billion-U.S.-dollar bailout program.
Since 2015, the East European country has received about 8.7 billion dollars from the IMF, which helped prevent the collapse of the Ukrainian economy. The disbursement of the aid was suspended after April 2017.
The IMF mission has been working in Kiev since Sept. 6.
Earlier this month, Yakiv Smoliy, the head of Ukraine's central bank, said Kiev is counting on receiving the next portion of the IMF aid following the mission's visit to Ukraine.
