IMF Agrees to 3-Year Lending Plan with Ukraine Government Worth $5.5 Billion
Posted on 12/09/2019
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to lend the Ukraine government US$ 5.5 billion on a new three-year loan program. Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova, the Managing Director of the IMF, phoned Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. In September 2019, the IMF argued that fighting corruption would be a key part of any new lending program that the Ukraine government receives. This new loan arrangement is replacing an existing US$ 3.9 billion standby arrangement with the IMF that expires at the end of 2019.
According to an IMF press release, Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist, made the following statement on December 7, 2019:
“I had a very constructive call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi today. During our conversation, I commended the President for the impressive progress that he and his government have made in the past few months in advancing reforms and continuing with sound economic policies. I assured the President of the IMF’s readiness to support the authorities’ policy agenda to maintain macro-economic stability and lift the economy to a path of higher, sustainable, and inclusive growth, including with a new IMF-supported program. I was pleased to note that IMF staff has reached agreement with the authorities on the policies to underpin a new 3-year, SDR 4 billion (about US$ 5.5 billion) arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility. This agreement is subject to IMF management approval and to approval by the Executive Board, and effectiveness of the arrangement will be conditional on the implementation of a set of prior actions. The President and I agreed that Ukraine’s economic success depends crucially on strengthening the rule of law, enhancing the integrity of the judiciary, and reducing the role of vested interests in the economy, and that it is paramount to safeguard the gains made in cleaning up the banking system and recover the large costs to the taxpayers from bank resolutions.”