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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky
The head of the IMF and Zelensky discussed the epidemic situation in the world and the uncertainty for the global economy in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a telephone conversation with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, discussed progress towards the adoption of Ukraine’s state budget for 2021, preservation of the anti-corruption agenda, and macroeconomic stability in the country. This was announced on Tuesday, November 17, by the Office of the President.
During a conversation with the head of the IMF, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine has completed all the necessary structural beacons to review the program with the IMF.
“I thank you and the Fund team for taking the decision to increase the first tranche of the stand-by program to $ 2,100 million, which allowed us to pass this period normally and finance expenses in medicines, social programs and financial obligations” Zelensky said.
According to the Ukrainian leader, the country did not stop fulfilling its obligations under the stand-by program. Among other things, the reform of customs and tax services was approved, the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank are actively working to reduce the proportion of delinquent loans in the banking system.
“To date, all the structural milestones planned for the review of the IMF program have been met,” said the president.
He also stressed that the government continues to support the independence of the National Bank of Ukraine.
The parties discussed the importance of adopting a balanced Ukraine budget by 2021, as well as the risks of the recent decision of the Constitutional Court to abolish some of the provisions of the anti-corruption legislation.
“For me, the continuation of the reform of the anti-corruption bodies is one of the priorities. We took a series of urgent measures and decisions, in particular, to convene a meeting of the NSDC, the government issued an order to ensure the functioning of the electronic declaration registry and I proposed to the parliament a bill on the restoration of the full composition of the Constitutional Court. Today there are no threats to the activities of NABU. Our teams discussed the complete return of the electronic declaration and took note of an action plan and preparation of the relevant bills, “he emphasized.
The head of state pointed out that today, as never before, the common position of all anti-corruption bodies, public organizations, diplomatic corps, international partners is focused on Ukraine to resolve the situation and fully restore anti-corruption infrastructure.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine has restarted the work of the Law Reform Commission with the participation of international experts to develop comprehensive bills on judicial reform.
The president stressed that in relation to the fight against the coronavirus epidemic and the economic challenges associated with COVID-19, the first review of the IMF program and the beginning of the fund’s mission will be an important signal for domestic and foreign markets.
“Our teams have great confidence and are working closely together to complete the negotiations and accept the mission of the IMF as soon as possible,” he said.
IMF Managing Director Georgieva noted that Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denis Shmygal’s work with the fund team allowed for the consolidation of the parties’ relations at a high level and good progress. He also highlighted the swift reaction and measures taken by the Ukrainian authorities after the CCU’s decision, adding that the fund appreciates the cooperation of NBU head Kirill Shevchenko with the IMF team.
As reported, the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Kirill Shevchenko, allows the visit of the International Monetary Fund mission to Ukraine in late 2020.
Previously, the Ministry of Finance evaluated the possibility of receiving the tranche from the IMF. According to the head of the department Sergey Marchenko, Ukraine has already completed four structural beacons out of ten.
Before that, the IMF made a statement on cooperation with Kiev.
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