UPDATE 1-Ukraine must pass reforms to get IMF loan tranche in Aug-deputy …
(Adds quotes on debt talks, background on bailout programme)
KYIV, July 9 (Reuters) – Ukraine hopes to receive the second
tranche of loans from the International Monetary Fund in August
provided parliament passes reform laws required under the
bailout package, Deputy Finance Minister Artem Shevalev said on
Thursday.
Ukraine has so far received $5 billion from the Fund from
its overall pledge of $17.5 billion. To get the next tranche
worth $1.7 billion, it must implement reforms including
legislative changes to the banking system and energy sector.
If parliament passes the laws next week then the funds will
come in August, “but there is no chance of (Ukraine) receiving
the second tranche in July”, Shevalev told a news conference.
The IMF cash is part of a broader $40 billion bailout
programme aimed at shoring up Ukraine’s economy, which has been
pushed close to bankruptcy by years of economic mismanagement
and a conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the east.
Ukraine is expected to come up with $15 billion by
restructuring its sovereign and quasi-sovereign debt, but talks
with creditors have dragged on for over three months, prompting
Kyiv to threaten that it would halt debt payments if a deal is
not reached soon.
Shevalev said some progress had been made in the
negotiations, but more needed to be done to broker a deal and
the ministry had not ruled out calling a moratorium on payments
if necessary.
“Unfortunately we can’t rule out (halting debt payments) …
at the moment any scenario is possible,” he said, adding that if
a moratorium is introduced, Ukraine would stop servicing all its
sovereign external debt, including a $3 billion Eurobond held by
Russia.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice,
editing by Elizabeth Piper)