July 20 (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund’s board completed a review of Ukraine’s financing arrangement, clearing the way for immediate access to about $690 million, the Fund said on Monday.
The war-torn nation is operating under an $8.1 billion IMF loan programme. The latest funding brings total disbursements under the programme to about $2.2 billion, the IMF said in a statement.
The review is a key test for Ukraine as it struggles to sustain economic stability and advance reforms while battling intensified Russian attacks on its infrastructure.
The IMF said Ukraine had maintained macroeconomic and financial stability despite Russia’s war. However, it said the economic outlook had weakened largely due to intensified attacks on critical infrastructure and spillover effects from the war in the Middle East.
The IMF said programme performance had been “broadly satisfactory.” All end-March quantitative performance criteria and indicative targets were met, although the end-June target on net international reserves was missed, in part because of the impact of the Middle East conflict.
“Reform implementation has slowed, with several structural benchmarks completed with a delay or missed,” the IMF said.
To keep the programme on track, IMF staff and Ukrainian authorities agreed in June to a revised timeline for implementing reforms, corrective actions to address slippages and additional policy commitments, the IMF said in June.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday that maintaining macroeconomic stability remained Ukraine’s immediate priority and called for prudent fiscal and monetary policies as well as measures to safeguard financial-sector resilience.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Mexico City; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Michael Perry)