Ukraine in talks with IMF over budget shortfall financing

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. Ukraine is holding talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on financing to cover another budget shortfall, but the fund is once again demanding that Kiev find sources for its own funding, Verkhovna Rada member Olga Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk said.

"The government is negotiating with the IMF on the financing needed to cover the budget shortfall. <...> The IMF is emphasizing that Ukraine must mobilize domestic resources to cover the public finance deficit. But no amount of domestic resource mobilization will be enough without external assistance," Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk wrote on her Telegram channel.

According to her, Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko met with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Dublin.

The lawmaker recalled that Ukraine needs to receive around $52.6 bln from its Western partners next year, but only about $20 bln has been confirmed so far.