The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed its work on the first revision of the Extended Financing Program (EFF) with Ukraine. Kiev has met the conditions for receiving financial aid and can therefore count on payments of around $900 million, but the decision has to be made by the IMF’s board of directors. In this respect writer Reuters cites an IMF report.
“All quantitative benchmarks for efficiency for the EFF financial aid program have been met by the end of April and the structural targets by the end of May,” the message says.
On March 31, the IMF Board of Executive Directors approved a $15.6 billion loan to Ukraine as part of a four-year loan program. It was noted that this is the largest loan for Ukraine and the first significant financing package from the IMF for a country involved in the conflict. Later, the IMF published 19 structural points (signs) that Ukraine committed to fulfill in the amount specified under the cooperation program. This concerned measures in the areas of monetary and fiscal policy, ensuring financial stability and structural reforms.
The IMF mission worked in a mixed online and offline fashion.
“IMF staff also raised Ukraine’s real GDP (gross domestic product) growth forecast for 2023 to a range of 1-3% from the previous forecast of -3 to 1%. Although the prospects remain extremely vague as the special operation continues, ”the publication says.
The EFF is part of a $115 billion global financial aid package to Ukraine from international partners on a special operations basis.