The Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will discuss the sixth review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program and the allocation of the 7th tranche of approximately $1.1 billion to Ukraine on December 20, according to the schedule of meetings published on the Fund's website.
It is noted that the meeting will also address Ukraine's request to modify the performance criteria and review the financing guarantees.
As reported, on November 19, the IMF announced that an agreement at the staff level (SLA) had been reached regarding the sixth review of the four-year EFF program with Ukraine following the mission's work in Kyiv from November 11 to 18.
"The authorities have met all quantitative performance criteria (QPC) as of the end of September and the structural benchmarks for the review. Agreements were also reached on a number of policies and reforms to maintain macroeconomic stability amid the ongoing war," the release stated.
Subsequently, the President of Ukraine signed the law on the state budget for 2025 and tax amendments to increase the military tax from 1.5% to 5% starting December 1, along with several other taxes and fees. The government approved the state property policy, and the state company "Ukrenergo" formed a new supervisory board with independently selected members through a competitive process.
A source in financial circles informed the "Interfax-Ukraine" agency that the program may include about three new structural benchmarks, one of which concerns the operational assessment and institutional capacity of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine (NSSMC), while another pertains to the preparation of a draft law on critical risks from third parties in the financial market.
As reported, on October 23 of this year, following the 5th review of the EFF program initiated in March 2023, Ukraine received the 6th tranche of $1.1 billion, increasing the total disbursements to $8.7 billion out of a total program volume of $15.6 billion.
In the updated program following the 5th review, changes were made at Ukraine's request to the schedule of program reviews and associated tranches. Initially, it was planned to have only two reviews in 2025—at the beginning of March and the end of August, with disbursements of $917.5 million each. Now, the schedule for the next year includes four quarterly reviews, similar to this year. The amount of the 8th tranche following the 7th review in March remains unchanged at $917.5 million, while the amounts for the subsequent three tranches next year will be $809.6 million, $539.8 million, and $445.3 million, respectively.