The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Ukrainian authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of the four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program. Following approval by the IMF Executive Board, Ukraine will receive a second tranche of approximately $690 million.<\/p>\n
The IMF decided to proceed with the disbursement despite the fact that two structural benchmarks for the first quarter were completed with delays, while one benchmark was not met at all.<\/p>\n
In his official statement, IMF Mission Chief Gavin Gray noted that the pace of structural reforms in Ukraine has slowed and explained that the deviations from the program would be offset by new policy commitments.<\/p>\n
As defense and reconstruction expenditures are expected to remain high, the Fund is calling on the government to mobilize additional domestic revenues. The IMF sees the reduction of the shadow economy as the primary source of such revenue growth.<\/p>\n
Among the key measures highlighted by Gray were the removal of tax exemptions for small parcels, stricter transfer pricing controls, and reform of the simplified taxation system, including efforts to combat artificial business fragmentation, manipulative switching between tax regimes, and disguised employment.<\/p>\n
The IMF also emphasized the importance of institutional reforms within the Economic Security Bureau and the State Customs Service to improve the effectiveness of combating tax evasion.<\/p>\n
Particular attention in the statement was given to the energy sector. The IMF believes that the current system of household energy tariffs and public service obligations (PSOs) is placing a financial burden on state-owned energy companies.<\/p>\n
With IMF support, the Ukrainian government is already preparing a roadmap for the gradual liberalization of the energy market.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter social protection mechanisms for vulnerable households have been established, and in line with the roadmap, household tariffs should be gradually adjusted to address the sector\u2019s financial challenges,\u201d the mission chief stated.<\/p>\n
Gray added that strengthening the integrity and independence of the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission would also contribute to the long-term sustainability of the sector.<\/p>\n
In light of a number of corruption cases, the IMF further stressed the need to accelerate corporate governance reforms in state-owned enterprises and banks. The Fund is calling for transparent competitions for senior management positions, stronger supervisory boards, and improvements to the asset declaration system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":151755,"menu_order":0,"template":"","newscat":[9],"newstag":[],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-151754","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","newscat-novosti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/151754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"newscat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newscat?post=151754"},{"taxonomy":"newstag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newstag?post=151754"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=151754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}