The Ukrainian cabinet hopes to get 3 billion U.S. dollars from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in August after pension reform adoption, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Policy Sergey Tigipko here on Wednesday.
"To my mind, in the beginning of August we will have a decision from the IMF Executive Board if our Parliament will approve the pension reform between July 4 and July 8," Tigipko said during a briefing.
According to Tigipko, Ukraine could get two tranches at the same time, because there was a pause in the IMF's funding to Kiev. The amount of combined loan could reach 3 billion dollars.
In July 2010, the IMF agreed to cooperate with Ukraine on a new stand-by program of more than 15 billion dollars. Kiev has since got two tranches of funding. But in February 2011 the IMF mission to Ukraine decided to conduct additional negotiations with Kiev before allocating the next loan.
The IMF wants Ukraine to approve a pension reform, which is common in most western countries. It involves raising retirement age for women from 55 to 60. Kiev should also solve the problem of low-price natural gas for households. According to IMF experts, the prices should rise by 50 percent.
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