IMF mission visit to Ukraine should identify obstacles to meeting EFF criteria - National Bank governor

MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - The IMF mission's ongoing visit to Ukraine should help determine what is hindering effective interaction between all participants and stakeholders involved in implementing Ukraine's agreements with the IMF on its new financing program and how quickly such interaction can be normalized, National Bank of Ukraine Governor Andrei Pyshny said.

"The visit will last approximately until the middle of next week. Discussions with all parties involved in the process will give us an answer," Ukrainian media quoted Pyshny as saying at a news briefing in Kiev.

The European Commission stated in its latest report that the level of Ukraine's compliance with the Association Agreement had reached 82%, which is a good figure, he said.

"We have ambitious plans to meet the necessary criteria to the maximum by the end of 2027 to comply with European requirements and rules," Pyshny said.

As reported, an IMF team led by Mission Chief Gavin Gray began working in Kiev on March 18 to discuss macroeconomic policy and structural reforms. The mission met with Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko, and the parties planned to continue coordinating further steps to promote cooperation until the end of the week.

In line with the terms of the IMF's new Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Ukraine amounting to $8.1 billion, Ukraine must adopt a package of tax measures by the end of March 2026, under which entities entitled to simplified taxation whose annual income exceeds UAH 4 million would have to register as VAT payers. However, the government has not yet submitted a relevant bill to the Verkhovna Rada.

The Rada also turned down a bill on the taxation of income received through electronic platforms, which was also part of the program's structural benchmarks. The bill was supported by only 168 lawmakers, while the minimum votes needed for its passage is 226.

As for the Ukraine Plan, the RRR4U analytical consortium reported earlier that unfulfilled indicators under it continued to accumulate, leading to the loss of a significant amount of EU support and effectively putting key reforms at risk. As of the end of 2025, Ukraine failed to meet 14 indicators worth more than 3.9 billion euros. The majority of these commitments were not fulfilled in Q4 2025, with ten missed indicators amounting to 2.5 billion euros, it said.

Ukraine must fulfil eight more indicators by the end of Q1 2026, of which five are currently at risk of non-fulfilment, potentially further deepening the negative trend by March, the consortium said.

Additionally, RRR4U said there was a risk of delays in receiving more than $3 billion from the World Bank, as the Ukrainian parliament needed to adopt four EU-integration bills in order to unlock the Development Policy Operation (DPO).