Distinguished Mrs. Lagarde,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very pleased to greet Managing Director of the International
Monetary Fund Mrs. Christine Lagarde in Kyiv today.
This visit is extremely important and symbolic, because the IMF's
support for Ukraine is crucial in these difficult times.I am confident that our frank conversation and agreements reached today
on a wide range of issues of interaction between Ukraine and the IMF will
manage to further accelerate our cooperation.
The decision of the IMF Executive Board of July 31, 2015 regarding the
allocation of USD 1.7 billion for Ukraine together with 5 billion received this
year have formed a substantial financial foundation for the implementation of
reforms in Ukraine. I would like to remind that the foreign reserves of Ukraine
equalled USD 5 billion in February. This, as well as military aggression
against Ukraine, were the main reasons of powerful destabilization of the
financial-banking and currency markets. Only efficient cooperation and
professional actions of our Ukrainian team and the team of the International
Monetary Fund have radically changed the situation and today, the foreign
reserves of Ukraine equal USD 12.7 billion and we have eventually reached
significant stabilization of the banking sector and exchange rate policy.
This is the result of real progress in the implementation of the Fund's
Program "Extended Crediting Mechanism". I would like to emphasize that for today, we have received only 38% of
the overall IMF program and we have agreed a clear schedule of actions. In
September, the IMF mission will come to Ukraine to continue its work until
October 2. I hope that the results of the missions' work will be successful,
because we are determined to implement reforms. We have agreed that proposals
may be submitted to the IMF Executive Board already in October.
Mrs. Lagarde commended successful negotiations with holders of Ukraine’s
sovereign debt securities and the conclusion of the agreement on debt
restructuring carried out by the Ukrainian Government. The IMF's support have
probably played a crucial role in the achievement of the given agreement and I
am grateful to Mrs. Lagarde for that. We have agreed that the given agreement will significantly improve the
solvency of our country, improve the balance of payments and help meet the
criteria identified in the negotiations, inter alia, with the International
Monetary Fund. I believe that it will also contribute to the achievement of agreements
with other creditors, if we have achieved these results now.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
This IMF program is a sophisticated framework of systemic reforms in our
state. We also talked about the tax reform, which had been recently discussed
at the National Council of Reforms. We agreed that it should be comprehensive
and take into account both indicators of the state budget and other structural
reforms in our country.
We have separately discussed the acceleration and support for
privatization and the improvement of management of state assets.
We have separately discussed the topic of financial recovery of NJSC
"Naftogaz of Ukraine"; the restoration of stability and confidence in
the financial and banking sectors of our country. I am confident that the whole
package of measures will significantly contribute to the increase of investment
attractiveness of our country, the implementation of judicial reform and
constitutional amendments. By the way, I would like to express gratitude to
Mrs. Lagarde for supporting the constitutional reform on decentralization and
other spheres.
I would like to emphasize that the Ukrainian authorities implement all
these reforms against the backdrop of the Russian aggression, which requires
additional defense expenditures for the Ukrainian security. All this is
happening against the backdrop of the necessity to finance urgent needs of
IDPs, whose number today is 1.4 million. I have drawn attention of Mrs. Lagarde
to the challenges that Ukraine is now forced to overcome.
To avoid the rapid decline in living standards of Ukrainian citizens
because of rising prices and tariffs, we have informed Mrs. Lagarde on the
possibility of improving social guarantees and standards not from December 1,
as provided by the program, but from September 1. This is an important step,
which has been agreed; which the Ukrainian authorities make to improve the
living standards of Ukrainians. I am grateful that the IMF understood the
necessity of the given actions.
I am grateful to the IMF Managing Director for a frank and meaningful
conversation in support of Ukraine and its course of reforms. It is extremely
important for us. My priorities in the course of reforms are ruthless struggle
against corruption, creation of conditions for the restoration of stability and
confidence in the financial and banking sector, provision of conditions for
economic growth and creation of an effective investment climate. And it is
being made to raise social standards.
I am confident that as a result of effective cooperation and
collaboration with our partners who provide solidarity with Ukraine all over
the world, all active efforts on the reforms of the Ukrainian government will
pave the way for the IMF's positive decision on granting the next tranche for
Ukraine.
I believe that you, Mrs. Lagarde, will have fruitful negotiations with
the Government and the Prime Minister and the agreements reached today will be
implemented in the Government.
I wish you successful meetings with representatives of the Ukrainian
Parliament. I am convinced that these meetings will ensure that MPs will
support the priority laws to implement our program of cooperation.
I personally would like to thank you, Mrs. Lagarde, for a very powerful,
effective and strong support for Ukraine's position. We really appreciate it.
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