IMF chief warns Ukraine of risk losing aid program
KYIV, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) — International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Wednesday said Ukraine risks losing the fund’s aid program over slow progress in implementing reforms and combatting corruption.
“Without a substantial new effort to invigorate governance reforms and fight corruption, it is hard to see how the IMF-supported program can continue,” Lagarde said in a statement.
She said that it was essential for the Ukrainian authorities to take urgent steps towards speeding up the reform process to continue cooperation with the IMF.
“It is vital that Ukraine’s leadership acts now to put the country back on a promising path of reform,” Lagarde said.
Ukraine is experiencing its worst economic crisis in the past decade and it is heavily dependent on the IMF aid to fill the state budget and foreign exchange reserves.
In March 2015, the IMF approved a four-year loan package of 17.5 billion U.S. dollars for Ukraine to keep the country’s ailing economy afloat amid economic and political turbulence, while requesting Ukraine to implement a series of economic reforms, including those in judicial and energy sectors.
Since the bailout program started, Kyiv has received a total of 6.7 billion dollars in two disbursements from the global lender, but the third tranche was delayed.