Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva arrived in Kyiv on Thursday.
As Interfax-Ukraine was informed by government sources, her meetings are planned with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, and National Bank Chairman Andriy Pyshny.
The possibility of such a visit was reported back in October last year; the last time the IMF head was in Kyiv was in February 2023.
Following this, in late November, Ukraine and the Fund reached a staff-level agreement (SLA) on a new four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) worth about $8.1 billion.
“The program is expected to catalyze large-scale external support to cover Ukraine’s financing gap. Under the baseline scenario, the overall financing gap for 2026-29 is about $136.5 billion. In 2026-27, Ukraine faces a residual financing gap (taking into account existing financial obligations) of about $63 billion,” IMF Mission Chief Gavin Gray noted at the time.
It was reported that the new program could be submitted for approval to the IMF’s Executive Board in early 2026 after completing preliminary activities and receiving appropriate financing guarantees from donors.
Among the preliminary measures for a positive decision by the board of directors were the approval by the European Union of a new financial support program for Ukraine, the adoption of the 2026 state budget, and the move to expand the tax base by adopting legislation on taxation of income received through digital platforms, closing customs loopholes for the import of consumer goods, and submitting a bill to abolish VAT registration privileges.
On January 14, the European Commission presented draft legislative acts aimed at implementing the European Council’s decision on a EUR 90 billion loan to financially support Ukraine for 2026-2027, the first money could arrive as early as April.
As for the Ukrainian part (prior actions), so far only the budget has been adopted, but the relevant bills are on the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada meeting on Thursday, and the most controversial bill to abolish VAT registration privileges has already been posted on the Ministry of Finance website for discussion.
As reported, since March 2023, a four-year EFF program with the IMF has been in effect for $15.6 billion, the next, 9th tranche of which in the amount of SDR 1.117 billion ($1.6 billion at the current exchange rate) was scheduled for December 2025.
Initially, the current program provided for the total amount of external financing for Ukraine with the participation of international partners of $115 billion in the basic version and $140 billion in the negative version, but as the war dragged on, these figures were increased to $153 billion and $165 billion, respectively.
During the work of the IMF mission in Kyiv from September 3 to 10, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, together with the Chairman of the NBU and the Minister of Finance, officially appealed to the IMF with a request for a new program, previously for 2026-2029. The need to consider a new program is due to the fact that the war unleashed by Russia is dragging on, while the current EFF program is scheduled to end by March 2027.