Press Release No. 09/366

Press Release: IMF Mission Statement on Ukraine

October 25, 2009

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission headed by Ms. Ceyla Pazarbasioglu visited Kyiv to review the authorities’ economic program that is being supported by a Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF. The mission found that the economic and financial situation in Ukraine is stabilizing as a result of policies under this program. Preserving these gains will require policy discipline and corrective actions in some areas. In its discussions with the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank of Ukraine, the IMF mission reached staff-level agreement on such actions, and it has departed Kyiv. The mission is now awaiting endorsement of the agreed policy package from the signatories to the program—the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and the Governor of the National Bank—including assurances that the wage and pension law approved by Ukraine’s parliament, the Rada, this week, which is at odds with the objectives of the authorities’ program, will be vetoed.