IMF Board on July 31 could discuss provision of second tranche to Ukraine

The Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may hold a meeting on July 31 and could decide to provide a new tranche of $1.7 billion to Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"It is expected that the meeting of the IMF Board could be held on July 31. This would allow Ukraine to receive the new tranche of $1.7 billion," he said at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Yatseniuk added that the laws passed by the Ukrainian parliament have opened up additional financial opportunities for Ukraine worth $3.2 billion.

The Ukrainian authorities signed an updated letter of intent to the memorandum on economic and financial policy after the first revision of the IMF program, Deputy Finance Minister of Ukraine for European integration Artem Shevalev said.

He said that the letter to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde was signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko and National Bank of Ukraine Governor Valeriya Gontareva on July 21.

"Thus, we expect that the IMF Board will be able to soon approve the decision to provide the next tranche under the program [around $1.7 billion] to Ukraine and it would be fully used to strengthen NBU's forex reserves," Shevalev posted on Facebook.

As reported, it was initially planned that the IMF Board would approve the second tranche of $1.7 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) by late June, however the decision was postponed until the end of July.