IMF bailout good news for Ukraine

Ukraine is to receive a $3.4bn International Monetary Fund payment in November. This will help shore up the country's ailing finances, including a huge budget deficit. Ukraine has been hit hard by collapsing demand for export such as steel. Its chemical sector has also suffered as domestic and regional sales collapsed in the wake of the financial crisis.

Here's a report from local news agency. "Ukraine expects the International Monetary Fund to release a $3.4 billion payment under the agency’s $16.4 billion lending program to the country, Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn said, according to Bloomberg.

“This will help sustain the economy and, to a certain extent, help cover the budget deficit,” Danylyshyn said today in an interview at Ukraine’s Consulate in New York. “It’s a pretty complicated situation in Ukraine, that’s why we expect (a) budget deficit this year and next.”

Ukraine is relying on the IMF loan program to stay afloat after the credit crisis undermined demand for its raw materials, including steel exports. The country has received $10.6 billion in loans to date.

The IMF team, led by Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, arrived in Kiev earlier this week to assess whether Ukraine meets the terms of the loans. Ukraine is at “serious risk” of veering off track ahead of the country’s next review in November, Fitch Ratings said in a statement on Oct. 14.

“It would be politically right to support the government’s measures aimed at stabilizing the situation,” Danylyshyn said. “That would also be a very good signal for investors.”