KIEV: A top Ukrainian banker said Monday that a new tranche of money from the International Monetary Fund would mainly go straight back to the global lender as debt repayment, rather than helping to fill the country's coffers.
The IMF said Saturday it had reached a preliminary agreement that could see the war-scarred and cash-starved nation receive a fresh $1 billion (0.9 billion euros) loan in the first half of this year.
Ukraine also gets a reprieve from enforcing an unpopular measure to raise the minimum retirement age to raise cash.
This step had been initially demanded by the IMF but was strongly opposed by Ukrainian lawmakers who wanted to avoid a voter backlash.
But the Ukraine's Independent Association of Banks in Ukraine head Roman Shpek said nearly all the money would go into refinancing of the former Soviet republic's outstanding debt to the IMF.
Shpek said $850 million of that new money -- to be discussed at an IMF board meeting this month -- would go back directly to the Fund and not into Ukraine's coffers.
"According to the schedule, Ukraine was supposed to be receiving its ninth tranche -- not its fourth," he told Ukrainian media.
"Clearly, this pace is extremely insufficient to ensure stability and accelerate economic growth," Shpek said.
He said Ukraine was due to pay back the Fund $0.85 million this year.
"This does not fill out reserves," he said.
The IMF had dragged its feet in disbursing help to Ukraine because of its unwillingness to follow through on tough belt-tightening measures.
It is far behind schedule since striking the $17.5-billion Ukrainian rescue deal in the first half of 2015.
Ukraine has thus far seen only $7.3 billion of that money.
Kiev is waging a battle on numerous fronts -- against economic stagnation and a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of the country that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.
The nearly three-year war is at a stalemate and shows few signs of reaching a resolution.
Sporadic upsurges in violence, such as last month's flareup in the Kiev-held town of Avdiivka, claim dozens of lives.
But the economy of one of Europe's poorest countries grew by about one percent last year and is on course to expand by 2.2 percent in 2017.
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