IMF to visit Kyiv to review reform programme

Before Prime Minister Volodymyr Hrosyman took office in mid-April, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde had warned that the bailout programme could be halted unless Kyiv launched "a substantial new effort" to improve governance and fight corruption. Lagarde said that unless Kyiv acted to put the country on a "promising path of reform," Ukraine would risk "a return to the pattern of failed economic policies that has plagued its recent history." IMF bailout programmes involve the disbursement of loans in stages and have always been contingent upon economic and political reforms. A third tranche of assistance to Ukraine has been held up since October due to concerns that funds might be squandered or stolen by corrupt officials.