KYIV, Apr. 5 (AP) – President Leonid Kuchma said Thursday that Ukraine cannot close one of its largest banks, despite repeated demands from the International Monetary Fund that it be shut down before Ukraine receives new loans.
The closure of the Ukraina Bank has been one of the main contested issues in talks on IMF aid to this former Soviet republic.
After long talks with the World Bank and IMF, the government initiated a project to restructure Ukraina Bank, but it hasn’t been realized yet.
Kuchma, speaking at a meeting with the Trade Union Federation in Kyiv, said all the other IMF demands would favor Ukraine’s economy – but that Ukraine cannot allow the closure of Ukraina, the Interfax news agency reported.
Kuchma said that Ukraine currently needs international assistance but the government will be able to act without the IMF’s services when the country’s economy is improved and independent.
“Ukraine should learn how to survive without IMF,” Kuchma said, according to Interfax.
The Fund resumed its $2.6 billion aid program for Ukraine in December after it was frozen for more than a year over the country’s slow pace of economic reforms. Still, the fund may not give new loans as some disagreements remain.
