러시아ㆍ유라시아

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved on 28 July a new stand-by loan programme for Ukraine. The new programme is intended to last for 2½ years and will allow Ukraine to borrow a total of USD 15.2 billion. USD 1.9 billion is available immediately, with the rest to be released in the normal manner after the IMF’s quarterly assessments. The new loan arrangement will also help Ukraine to continue borrowing from the World Bank and the European Union, although the IMF will clearly be the largest lender.

IMF and Ukraine managed to reach agreement on the new programme only after prolonged and difficult negotiations. The previous programme was frozen in November 2009 when the IMF refused to loan any more. Ukraine’s budget deficit was much bigger than agreed under the programme, partly because the Ukrainian parliament substantially increased public expenditure in the run-up to the presidential elections. An additional problem was that moves to increase the independence of the central bank had not progressed in the agreed manner. Before it was frozen, Ukraine received USD 10.6 billion in loans from the IMF under the previous programme.