(Reuters) -Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he had discussed a new International Monetary Fund financial assistance programme for Ukraine with the Fund’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
“We discussed a new programme of financial assistance that will strengthen Ukrainians now and in the post-war period,” Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app of the phone meeting.
“We are prepared to carry out the necessary steps quickly. The government is already working on this.”
Ukraine’s current $15.5-billion programme with the IMF expires in 2027.
Officials say part of that programme deals with reconstruction and Ukraine’s needs have changed as the war drags on. Moscow invaded its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
Analysts say Ukraine’s financing gap will widen significantly next year if Russia keeps up its intense attacks across the country and the government fails to act on demands for reform from foreign lenders.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Olena Harmash; Editing by Chris Reese and Rod Nickel)
