An International Monetary Fund mission began work on Monday on a review of Ukraine’s lending program that could release about 1.67 billion dollars in fresh financing, money Kyiv needs to keep its budget running while the war continues.
The review combines the second and third assessments of Ukraine’s four-year program, an 8.1 billion dollar arrangement the Fund approved in February. Ukraine has received about 2.2 billion dollars so far, an initial payment when the program was approved and a further 690 million in July after the first review. Nothing about Monday’s step is automatic: the mission’s work leads to a staff judgment, and the money is released only if the Fund’s executive board approves the reviews, which IMF staff aim to bring to the board by December.
“Discussions will cover macroeconomic and fiscal policies, as well as key structural reforms,” Priscilla Toffano, the Fund’s resident representative in Ukraine, said in a statement. The teams are meeting in Lviv and Warsaw, with some officials joining online. Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said the talks would also cover the 2027 budget, which parliament has passed at a first reading, and the search for international financing for 2027 and 2028.
The numbers explain the urgency. Ukrainian officials say the country needs about 52.6 billion dollars in outside financing for 2027, and roughly 32.6 billion of it is not yet covered; officials have put the wider funding problem for next year at about 70 billion dollars. The 1.67 billion at stake in this review covers only a part of that, but the IMF program matters beyond its own money, because other lenders and donors use it to judge whether Ukraine’s economic commitments remain on track.
The review runs in parallel with the diplomacy opening in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, where US-led talks will take up territory and security guarantees. Kyiv’s finances and its negotiating position are connected: a state that can fund its budget negotiates from a different position than one that cannot. We will report the mission’s conclusion and the board’s decision when they come.
Transparency note: This story is based on Reuters reporting and on the Ukrainian government’s own account of the mission’s opening. Figures for the 2027 financing need are Ukrainian officials’ figures and are attributed as such; estimates vary between sources.
