“The meeting of the Cabinet of Minister of Ukraine has just finished. The government of Ukraine has approved a draft memorandum between Ukraine and International Monetary Fund”, - said Prime-Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk, the press-office of the CMU reports.

“I’d like to remind that last year we had the stand-by arrangement with the IMF, and the entire list of reforms specified in the program has been fulfilled by the Ukrainian government. However, experiencing the Russian aggression and exacerbation of the situation in the east of Ukraine, we appealed to our western partners and International Monetary Fund to extend the end date of the financial aid program with Ukraine.

We are appealing to the International Monetary Fund asking its Board of Directors to approve the four-year program of cooperation with Ukraine. This is the Extended Fund Facility that will allow Ukraine to obtain extra funds in the amount of 25 billion US dollars within four years. 17.5 billion dollars out of total amount – the funds that the International Monetary Fund will give Ukraine to help stabilize the financial situation in Ukraine.

During four years, Ukraine will be implementing reforms to meet needs of the economics and lead to financial stabilization of the country. This program of reforms is not for the IMF, it is for Ukraine. Its objective is to boost economic growth. We think that in 2016 the Ukrainian economics will start growing if the program proves being efficient, and Russia terminates its aggression.

The program envisages a suite of important complicated and efficient solutions embracing economic management, corruption combating, sorting out the energy puzzle, trimming and cutting the government spending, increasing investment expenditure in GDP up to 3%, government staff cuts, and bringing fairness to the pension reform. This, first of all, implies cutting and liquidation of the so called social pensions. 

Additionally, the government is going to implement a comprehensive financial aid program for low-income citizens. At the end of the current year, starting December, the government will be indexing earnings. The program states the necessity to index or increase earnings of population depending on price level for consumer goods, during its validity period.

Besides, the program envisages providing financial aid amounting to 12.5 billion hryvnias – only in the current year – for low-income strata of the society, depending on changing prices and rates; first of all, this applies to energy sources.

We expect that the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, after the negotiations are finished, – officially, the negotiations have been already finished – will approve this program, and Ukraine will obtain an access to the financial resources of the international creditors, and private investors.

The objective of the program is to stabilize the banking system and foreign currency exchange rates. However, renovation of trust to Ukraine by adopting the four-year program will serve as an indicator of stabilization of the foreign exchange rates and, evidently, viability of the banking system of Ukraine, which, in its turn, will spur up economic growth.

The Ukrainian government has finished negotiations. I’m sure that political forces that have formed the pro-European coalition at the Parliament of Ukraine must bear mutual responsibility to the Ukrainian people for efficiency of economic reforms.

These reforms are highly needed. Our foreign partners will invest to these particular reforms that are expounded in the memorandum between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund.

The situation is rather complicated. 40 billon dollars received by Yanukovych regime in the form of loans that we have to return now, - this is an excessive burden placed on the government budget. However, owing to our efficient steps within the framework of the four-year program with the IMF, we are sure that the year of 2016 will be the year of stabilization and economic growth for Ukraine. And, now it depends on the parliamentary coalition, government and country itself, on how efficient we are able to promptly and efficiently implement the reforms.

The negotiations have been finished. We are waiting for a formal decision of the Board of Governors of the IMF”, - concluded Yatseniuk.