KIEV, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine has made the final payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the stand-by program launched in 2014, according to the National Bank of Ukraine, reported Interfax Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
"On September 3, Ukraine made the last payment under the stand-by program with the IMF launched in 2014. The last payment amounted to the equivalent of 156.4 million U.S. dollars," Ukrainian Central Bank's press service told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.
The current cooperation program between Ukraine and the IMF under the stand-by mechanism was approved on Dec. 19, 2018. The volume of the 14-month program is equivalent to SDR 2.8 billion, or about 3.9 billion U.S. dollars. While the SDR 1 billion (about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars) was provided immediately upon the program approval, the condition for the allocation of the remaining funds is a successful six-month review of the program in 2019.
The IMF mission worked in Ukraine in May, but left without recommendations on the allocation of the next tranche. The head of the IMF mission Ron van Roden announced his readiness to return to Kiev after the parliamentary elections were held and the new government was formed.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine experts, an agreement on a new expanded financing program with the IMF for allocation of 5 to 10 billion U.S. dollars for a period of 3-4 years can be reached before the end of this year, which will make it possible to receive the first tranche in the amount of about 2 billion U.S. dollars by January 2020.
The IMF mission to Ukraine is expected to visit between Sept. 10 and 24. Enditem
