IMF Clears $690m in Additional Funding for Ukraine

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) board completed a review of Ukraine’s financing arrangement, giving the country immediate access to about $690m (€604m).

Ukraine is operating under an $8.1bn (€7.1bn) IMF loan program. The latest tranche brings total disbursements under the arrangement to about $2.2bn (€1.93bn).

The review was a key test for Kyiv as it seeks to maintain economic stability and advance reforms amid intensified Russian attacks on critical infrastructure.

The IMF found that Ukraine had maintained macroeconomic and financial stability despite the war. However, the economic outlook had weakened, largely because of intensified attacks on critical infrastructure and spillover effects from the conflict in the Middle East.

The Fund described program performance as broadly satisfactory. All end-March quantitative performance criteria and indicative targets were met, although the end-June target for net international reserves was missed, partly because of the Middle East conflict.

Despite this, reform implementation had slowed, with several structural benchmarks completed late or missed. IMF staff and Ukrainian authorities agreed in June to a revised timeline, corrective actions and additional policy commitments to keep the program on track.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva stressed that preserving macroeconomic stability remained the immediate priority, alongside prudent fiscal and monetary policies and measures to safeguard the resilience of the financial sector.

(Reuters, bak)