We have planned high frequency reviews of the EFF program: one in the summer and one in the fall -- IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine

Exclusive interview with Vahram Stepanyan, International Monetary Fund Resident Representative in Ukraine, to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency

Text: Dmytro Koshovyy

- What are the main differences between this EFF program and the usual one? How important are the guarantees provided by individual members of the IMF, what is the mechanism for confirming them during the program and the actions of the IMF in case these guarantees are broken?

-- Ukraine’s new EFF is the first program to be approved since changes to the IMF’s Financing Assurances policy designed to enable lending under exceptionally high uncertainty including for cases of active conflict such as Ukraine. It is also important to note that, with about US$15.6 billion in size, the EFF has catalyzed substantial additional funding for Ukraine bringing the overall support package to about US$115 billion for the next four years in the baseline scenario. Moreover, the program is designed to work also in a downside scenario.

These changes allow the IMF to support Ukraine in its current circumstances of exceptionally high uncertainty in a manner consistent with the IMF’s legal and policy frameworks and with adequate safeguards for the repayment of IMF’s resources. In terms of the mechanism, at the time of the EFF approval by the IMF Executive Board, a significant group of IMF shareholders, including the G7 countries, reaffirmed their recognition of the IMF’s preferred creditor status and committed to provide adequate financial support to secure Ukraine’s ability to service all of its obligations to the Fund.

- As for the new program, there is a widespread opinion in Ukraine that it requires raising taxes and prohibits tax liberalization reform, and,