Ukraine’s new premier eyes fresh IMF loan for war-racked budget

Ukraine’s new Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said she’s likely to seek more financing from the International Monetary Fund as she sets out to shore up the nation’s fiscal needs with no end in sight to Russia’s war, Report informs via Bloomberg.

Svyrydenko, a 39-year-old ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who became Ukraine’s second female head of government last week, laid out the budget squeeze in stark terms. Global donors have so far earmarked only half of the estimated $75 billion that the war-strained budget requires over the next two years, she said.

The term of the IMF credit program for the sum of about $16 billion expires in 2027. The uncertainty regarding the duration of the war will probably lead to the discussion of a new plan during the review of the creditors next month.

If the basic scenario assumes that the war will continue next year, it is very likely that Ukraine will have a new IMF program, Sviridenko said.

She noted that during the August visit of the IMF mission, economic and military scenarios will be discussed to determine whether the new program is reasonable and what its likely parameters are.