The International Monetary Fund (IMF) team arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday, Sept. 3, for a week of talks with Ukrainian officials on the country’s 2026 budget and broader economic policies, as Kyiv faces a $12.6 billion financing gap for next year.
“The discussions will cover budget plans for 2026, the medium-term fiscal framework, monetary and exchange rate policies, as well as financial sector and other structural policies,“ IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Priscilla Toffano said in a press release.
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This visit is not part of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program review. Instead, IMF representatives are consulting with Ukraine’s authorities on key economic policies.
Ukraine has yet to secure full funding for its 2026 budget and is seeking support from international partners, including the IMF.
For 2026, Ukraine still needs to identify financing sources for $12.6 billion. The remaining budget is expected to be funded through the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loan – backed by frozen Russian assets – the European Union’s Ukraine Facility program, and IMF support.
Ukraine’s central bank estimates the country will receive $35 billion in financing for 2026, while Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko has put the total financing need at $45 billion.
The Ukrainian government is set to receive $37.4 billion in international financing over a two-year period, leaving a significant portion of the budget gap uncovered, according to the Ministry of Finance.
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To bridge the shortfall in war-impacted state funding, Kyiv says an additional IMF support program is necessary.
“Arrived in Kyiv with the IMF team late in the evening, and spent a little of the morning in a bomb shelter,” Deputy Executive Director of the IMF for Ukraine Vladyslav Rashkovan reported on his Facebook. “Ready to work. Many meetings are scheduled.”
Rashkovan said the IMF team will remain in Kyiv for the next 7–8 days.
IMF backing Ukraine since onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022
The IMF has supported Ukraine through a four-year Extended Fund Facility program approved in March 2023, worth around $15.6 billion. The program is part of a wider international aid package aimed at maintaining macroeconomic stability, strengthening public finances, and supporting recovery and reforms amid ongoing war.
This is the first IMF program in history granted to a country in active war. The IMF changed its rules to allow lending to countries facing “exceptionally high uncertainty,” the IMF’s March 2023 press release says.
In 2025, Ukraine is scheduled to receive up to $2.3 billion under the EFF program, following four more reviews, including the current one.
Ukraine has completed eight reviews in the past two years, with the most recent approved by the IMF Executive Board on July 1, bringing total aid under the program to $10.6 billion.
The ninth and tenth reviews are expected on or after Nov. 30, 2025, and Feb. 28, 2026, according to a June 2025 IMF press release.