Ihor Umansky: "Cooperation between the Government and the IMF continues"

On March 11, 2020, Ihor Umansky, the Minister of Finance of Ukraine, held a meeting with a group of journalists. The Minister assured the attendees that the Ministry of Finance's strategic course remains unchanged: cooperation with the International Monetary Fund is continuing. The Government remains within the framework of the Staff Level Agreement reached between the IMF and the previous Government.

“Of course, all these agreements were reached with the expectation of a new Extended Fund Facility in November-December 2019. The government could have started with a clean state with the IMF, but it was decided to take prior agreements as a basis and update them. The updating is a matter of weeks,” - explained Ihor Umansky.

On March 10, the Ukrainian government already discussed key issues with the IMF during a telephone conversation. The Minister noted that a visit to Washington would be prepared as soon as the need arises.

Responding to journalists' questions, Ihor Umansky noted that the Ministry of Finance would not revise the state budget without an updated macroeconomic forecast prepared by the Ministry of Economy.

“I would not touch budget parameters at all. We want to understand the macroeconomic framework on which we will build and review the state budget. So far, this macroeconomic framework is missing. The reason is the high volatility of  the global financial markets and the global uncertainty regarding the course of the coronavirus pandemic, ” the Minister said. The Ministry of Economy's macroeconomic forecast should be presented next week.

On March 11, 2020, by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, on the proposal of Ihor Umansky, two Deputy Ministers of Finance were appointed. The First Deputy Minister is Vasyl Shkurakov, whose responsibility will be budgetary and debt policies. Deputy Minister of Finance for European Integration Yuriy Geletii will continue working in cooperation with international financial organizations and implementation of the Ministry of Finance's policy on state-owned banks.