Before that, things in Ukraine seemed to have been moving right along. The Verkhovna Rada had approved a package of very important bills that includes unbundling Naftogaz and reinstating the illegal enrichment provision, and passed the first reading of a land reform bill. The legislature had also approved a realistic 2020 spending plan, with a modest deficit of 2.1% of GDP. But on the eve of the IMF mission to Kyiv, things suddenly turned quite sour. Firstly, oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskiy dropped a bombshell, telling the New York Times that “financing from Russia could replace loans from the IMF.” He then claimed that Ukraine would receive $100 billion from the Russians. After this, law enforcement agencies arranged a series of arrests among bankers, detaining, among others, Oleksiy Pysaruk, a former first deputy governor of the NBU. These developments created a very unfortunate backdrop for the IMF visit. More about recent tendencies you can read in our new report “Will Kolomoyskiy derail the IMF deal?”. The full report could be obtained through subscription at Global Source (www.globalsourcepartners.com). Trial access is available.
26.11.2019
When we drafted this report, the IMF mission left Kyiv signaling that the deal was not there.