Naftogaz warned the IMF: if you don’t give money, there will be a default in Ukraine
The head of the Naftogaz of Ukraine company, Andrey Kobolev, who was included in the Ukrainian delegation for negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, said that without new loans from this financial organization, Ukraine will face a default, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“My understanding of the economic situation suggests that without an IMF loan, Ukraine could face a default,” he said in today’s interview with the Kyiv publication Left Bank.
Kobolev also said that he became a participant in negotiations with the IMF “on a narrow specialized issue” to explain the Ukrainian position to creditors. “Literally today I will have a conversation with representatives of the IMF. The process continues. He's not easy. Precisely because I became a participant in the negotiations, I can’t tell you more,” he said.
Ukraine signed the latest memorandum of cooperation with the IMF in March 2015. Over the course of four years, the fund promised to allocate $17,5 billion to our country. As part of this program, the government received only four tranches totaling $8,7 billion. The last of them was on April 5, 2017 for the amount of $1 billion.
To allocate new tranches, the IMF sets conditions that Kyiv is not ready to fulfill. Thus, among the main demands of the IMF is an increase in gas prices for the population, which, according to various estimates, can range from 30% to 60%.
Naftogaz warned the IMF: if you don't give it money, Ukraine will default.