KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Wednesday it had doubts that the International Monetary Fund would approve all changes adopted by parliament in the 2016 state budget, a condition to secure the next tranche of financial aid.
“I’m not entirely sure that all these changes will be agreed”, Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko told a news conference.
Ukraine’s parliament approved a budget for 2016 last week, a key condition to receive the next tranche under a $17.5 billion IMF loan package.
Lawmakers backed the government’s proposal to adopt the budget with the deficit at 3.7 percent of GDP, the figure agreed with the IMF. But they also approved a series of laws before the budget vote, including an amendment to tax laws.
Yaresko said these amendments needed a “separate agreement” with the Fund.
The IMF has said it was critical to approve a budget in line with the Fund’s bailout program.
Ukraine had promised to revamp its tax system under the IMF program but the tax amendments adopted last week were only temporary steps and Kiev was still planning to approve a new tax code.
Ukraine has already received almost $10 billion this year from the IMF and other international lenders to shore up its finances, which were crippled by separatist conflict and years of economic mismanagement and corruption.
The chief of Ukrainian central bank said on Tuesday that Kiev had fulfilled all preconditions and expected at least one tranche of funding, its third, in January.