Ukraine hopes for IMF loans soon after 'a lot of progress', finance minister says

KYIV: Ukraine has made a lot of progress in negotiations for more loans from the International Monetary Fund and hopes to reach a "staff level" agreement soon, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko told a news conference on Tuesday.

Anti-corruption policy and judicial reform remained outstanding issues in the negotiations, but fiscal policy was not a sticking point, he added.

Ukraine is trying to secure loans under a $5 billion IMF programme that was signed last year but repeatedly delayed due to concerns about Kyiv's progress on reforms and tackling entrenched corruption.

"We are in the active stage, we are very advanced," Marchenko said. "There is a hope that in the near future we will go to the Staff Level Agreement."

Ukraine was also hoping to discuss the possibility of a loan guarantee from the United States for a new Eurobond issuance, he added.

Separately on Tuesday, Ukraine's parliament passed legislation at the first reading that would allow citizens to voluntarily declare assets provided they paid a one-off tax for them.

The assets would be taxed at 5%, or 9% if the assets were abroad or 2.5% if the assets were invested in Ukrainian bonds.

Supporters of the legislation, which needs to be voted on a second time to come into force, say it will increase tax revenue and bring more money out of Ukraine's large black economy.

But critics warn it could be a way to whitewash money obtained through corruption.

The vote came on the same day as the IMF's representative to Ukraine, Goesta Ljungman, said the IMF was sceptical of tax amnesty policies because they were counterproductive in the longer term.

"But if a tax amnesty is carried out, government officials and their immediate family and related persons should not be subject to it," Ljungman told Interfax Ukraine in an interview.

"It is also extremely important not to allow the amnesty to be used as a means of laundering the proceeds of crime and corruption."