Ukraine may get $1.8 billion in credits if reforms would be evident, otherwise World Bank credits may amount to $461 million
aid strategy for Ukraine that may give the country $1.8 billion in credits during 2001-2003, a news agency said Tuesday.
“The real aid level will depend now upon evident results of the implementation of the Ukraine’s government reform program,” said Luca Barbone, the bank’s director in Ukraine and Belarus, the Interfax news agency reported.
If the bank deems reforms to be moving too slowly, Ukraine could get as little as $461 million in loans, said Dusan Vujovich, manager of the aid project.
Progress in five spheres will decide whether the bank loans more, Vujovich said. The areas include transparency in private property rights and their protection, discipline in financial sector, upgrading social services and government regulations, as well as improved monitoring of business activities.
The World Bank also links its loan decisions to those of the International Monetary Fund, which froze its $2.6 billion aid program last year due to lack of progress on economic reforms in the former Soviet republic.
The IMF has said it will not renew lending until it finishes reviewing an audit of the Ukrainian central bank’s use of previous IMF loans. An IMF mission is currently working in Kiev analyzing the overall economic situation, the budget for 2001 and other criteria affecting possible resumption of loans.
