Ukraine still has to meet three structural benchmarks ahead of ninth review of program with IMF
MOSCOW. Nov 6 (Interfax) - Ukraine still has to implement three structural benchmarks ahead of the ninth review of its EFF program with the International Monetary Fund in November-December, Ukrainian media reported, quoting a monitoring report by RRR4U consortium of the fulfillment of the IMF program and EU aid.
The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) press office said in a presentation that the outstanding obligations were: extending NBU oversight to critical third parties (deadline: September 2025); repealing the "Lozovoi amendments" (deadline moved from December 2024 to July 2025); and reviewing the procedure for selecting and appointing members of state-owned enterprise supervisory boards (end of August 2025).
The researchers claim that Ukraine might meet these benchmarks, but not on time.
The ninth EFF review is expected to take place in November-December. The IMF will assess compliance with quantitative performance criteria and structural benchmarks as of the end of September 2025. Ukraine was supposed to implement eight structural benchmarks by the end of September.
Five benchmarks are "in progress": appointment of a permanent head of the State Customs Service (deadline moved from June 2025 to December 2025), adoption of sectoral strategies in keeping with the reformed public investment management system (December 2025), introduction of European and international property valuation standards in agreement with international financial institutions (end of December 2025), submission of legislative amendments to align securitization and mortgage bonds with international standards (end of March 2026), and completion and publication of the external assessment of the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory System (NEURC) (moved from October 2025 to December 2025).
The Resilience, Reconstruction and Relief for Ukraine or RRR4U consortium unites four Ukrainian think tanks and NGOs: Institute for Economic Research (IER), DiXi Group, the Institute of Analytics and Advocacy and the Centre for Economic Strategy (CES).
The current four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the IMF, worth $15.6 billion and approved in March 2023, initially envisaged total external financing for Ukraine with the participation of international partners at $115 billion in the baseline scenario and $140 billion in the negative scenario. However, as the crisis dragged on, these figures were increased to $153 billion and $165 billion, respectively.
Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko, along with the head of the NBU and the finance minister, officially asked the IMF on September 9, during an IMF mission to Kiev from September 3 to 10, for a new program, tentatively for 2026-2029, which should support Kiev's economic stability.
