Ukrainian govt approves raising $760 million from IBRD for fiscal reform program

MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian government has approved a decision to raise $760 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA) for the country's fiscal reform program.

The decision was made at a government meeting on Friday, the Ukrainian media reported, citing the government's permanent representative in parliament Taras Melnichuk.

In particular, the government has approved raising a $10 million grant from the IBRD and IDA, which act as the administrator of the multi-donor trust fund for Ukraine relief, recovery, reconstruction and reform, for the implementation of an investment project, titled "Strengthening the government capacity to implement a fiscal reform."

The government also saw fit to raise $450 million from the IBRD and IDA and a $300 million loan from IDA for the implementation of a Sustainable Urban and Regional Development Program (SURGE) investment project.

The SURGE program is aimed at making the raising, distribution and monitoring of public funds at governmental and local levels more efficient through the introduction of advanced international practices in four areas: public investment management; management of government finances on a local level; fiscal management on a local level; and making revenue administration more efficient, it said.