Ukraine reaches preliminary agreement with IMF

The International Monetary Fund said it has reached a preliminary agreement with Ukraine that could see the war-scarred and cashed-starved nation receive fresh aid in the first half of the year.
"The IMF staff has reached agreement with the Ukrainian authorities on an updated Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies," the Fund's Ukrainian mission chief Ron van Rooden yesterday said in a statement.
"This paves the way for consideration of the third review of the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) by the IMF's Executive Board ... In the second half of March."
The news was particularly good for the ex-Soviet republic because it referred to a loan of $1 billion (0.9 billion euros) and not the lesser sums discussed in earlier months.

Ukraine also gets the reprieve of not having to go though the unpopular measure of raising its pension age to get the cash.
The measure had been initially demanded by the IMF but strongly opposed to by Ukrainian lawmakers who want to avoid a voter backlash.
The IMF's board usually follows through with such preliminary agreements and disburses aid once all the details have been hashed out.