Ukraine's economy is stable enough without International Monetary Fund loans and Kiev will do without them in the future, Ukraine Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Monday.
"In a month and a half, it will be a year we have not received a dollar from the IMF," Azarov said, adding the absence of international loans had not caused any problems in the country.
The government is meeting all its external obligations, while all social programs are properly funded, Azarov said.
"We have lived this year without any problems, so we'll manage to do it next year too," he said, adding cooperation between Kiev and the IMF has not been suspended, even though the country had not received any IMF loans this year.
Ukraine continues to cooperate with the IMF in stand-by mode, Azarov said, adding that in 2011 the Ukrainian government managed to both stabilize the internal situation via a well-balanced financial and economic policy and cut the foreign debt-to-GDP ratio.
The IMF decided in the summer of 2010 to issue a $15.15 billion loan to Ukraine. The country has received two tranches exceeding $3.4 billion in total, but cooperation was suspended last December.
The IMF is insisting on higher domestic gas prices, but the Ukrainian government hopes to keep tariffs unchanged, in expectation of an agreement with Russia in the near future on lower gas contract prices. The IMF has also insisted on unpopular pension reform, which Ukraine has partially implemented.
An IMF commission was working in Ukraine in October-November, 2011, but the IMF has temorarily halted negotiations with Ukraine on further lending.
