By KYIV. Nov 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Negotiations on a new program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will already include financing, may begin after the first revision of the Program Monitoring with Board Involvement (PMB), the staff-level agreement reached last week, the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Andriy Pyshnyy has said.
"We have reached the staff-level agreement with the IMF and we will move on," the NBU quoted him as saying on Facebook on Saturday following a meeting in Kyiv with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink the day before. Deputy Governor of the NBU Serhiy Nikolaichuk also participated in it.
Pyshnyy said that after his arrival, the National Bank managed to rebuild all communication with the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine.
"The NBU will not build walls. Our joint work is based on dialogue and arguments. The 2023 budget does not provide for equity financing. Today, we are talking about a qualitative restart of the domestic debt market and the maximum use of its resources," the governor of the National Bank said.
Ambassador Brink, as noted in the message, inquired about the readiness of the banking system to ensure uninterrupted operation in the event of a prolonged blackout, which may arise due to Russian terrorist attacks on the Ukrainian power system. During the meeting, the parties discussed, in particular, the anti-crisis plan, which will be implemented by the National Bank together with banks in the event of such a scenario.
As reported, Ukraine has requested a four-month PMB from the IMF, on which the Board of Directors of the Fund may decide in the coming weeks.
Ukraine hopes that this program, which does not require funding, will be replaced by the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) early next year, which can partially cover the state budget deficit. In total, it is planned to attract $38 billion from external sources for its financing.
