IMF Says No Ukraine Mission `Planned at the Moment;' Fund to Provide Dates

The International Monetary Fund said it hasn’t set a date for a mission to Ukraine, contradicting comments by government officials who said a delegation is due this week.

“We have no mission planned at the moment,” the Fund’s Washington-based spokeswoman Conny Lotze said in an e-mailed response to questions. “We’ll let you know when we have dates.”

Ukraine’s Delo newspaper cited Deputy Finance Minister Andriy Kravets as saying a mission was due yesterday, while Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Tigipko said on April 19 a mission was due to arrive on May 17. The government wants to discuss a $19 billion loan that would replace an existing agreement of $16.4 billion. The IMF hasn’t confirmed the new loan.

The government has yet to show it’s able to deliver budget cuts that the IMF says are needed for a loan agreement to come about, Tigipko said on May 21. The former Soviet state has received $10.6 billion of the IMF’s current arrangement.

Ukraine wants the IMF to disburse a tranche in June and is working to obtain as much as $4 billion, Iryna Akimova, the first deputy of President Viktor Yanukovych’s staff, said May 15.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net