KIEV, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine will ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase a third loan tranche by $600 million to $3.8 billion, a Ukrainian weekly quoted the country's acting finance minister as saying on Saturday.
Ukraine has received two loan tranches of $4.5 and $2.8 billion as part of a $16.4 billion stabilization loan program provided by the IMF to stabilize its economy, which had been seriously hurt by the current economic meltdown.
"The next [IMF] mission is due to arrive on June 24-26. The program envisages a third tranche of $3.2 billion. We will ask [the fund] to consider increasing it to $3.8 billion," Ihor Umanskiy told Zerkalo Nedeli.
However, the IMF could reportedly postpone the visit and the allocation of a third trance until September. The financial organization has required the Ukrainian government to declassify its GDP reports, review the budget, audit the national energy company, Naftigaz, and refrain from cutting interest rates.
