(Bloomberg) -- The International Monetary Fund will meet with Ukrainian officials next week to review the war-torn country’s budget outlook and decide whether to disburse the next $1.1 billion from a $15.6 billion aid program.
The IMF team will visit for about a week starting Sept. 4, according to people familiar with the plans who asked not to be identified before they’re announced publicly. For the last review in May, the IMF held meetings in Kyiv with Ukrainian authorities and other stakeholders, and in Warsaw, Poland.
Prior to the trip, IMF staff working on Ukraine will participate in an informal meeting Thursday with the fund’s executive board to update them on the latest on Ukraine’s loan, according to one of the people.
The IMF press office and Ukrainian government declined to comment.
The Washington-based fund approved the loan program in March 2023, agreeing to lend to a country at war for the first time in its nearly 80-year history. It approved a disbursement of $2.2 billion at the end of June.
A top concern for Kyiv ahead of the visit is finalizing a deal among Group of Seven nations that would unlock $50 billion in aid by harnessing the profits of frozen Russian central bank assets. Clarity on those funds will be needed for Ukraine to show its budget requirements will be met, a key component for continued IMF support.
Those funds are intended to flow to Ukraine by the end of the year, according to a G-7 agreement in June. But the plan has been snarled by demands made by the US and the risk of Hungary slowing down any EU-wide decision on support for Kyiv or sanctions against Russia.
Any financing would provide badly needed support for Ukraine as the war stretches beyond the 2-1/2 year mark. In addition to new funds, the country on Wednesday received widespread bondholder support to restructure $20 billion in overseas private debt, securing much-needed debt relief.
Ukrainian forces are struggling to halt a grinding Russian advance in the east while moving resources to a new front in Russia’s western Kursk region after its surprise incursion this month.
--With assistance from Jorgelina do Rosario.
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