The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to greenlight an additional 2.8 billion dollars assistance loan to Ukraine, dpa quoted IMF officials in Kiev as saying today. An IMF mission visiting the former Soviet republic recommended Ukraine receive the badly-needed credit after meetings with the country's government. At least half of the money to be advanced by the IMF will go towards balancing Ukraine's budget, mostly by helping service foreign-issue bonds, Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said, according to an Interfax news agency report. The first tranche of the loan, 4.5 billion dollars, was given to Ukraine in November. "We have agreed (with the Tymoshenko government) to recommend to Fund headquarters another tranche of 2.8 billion dolars," Pazarbasioglu said at a Kiev press conference. A final IMF approval of the loan would depend on the Tymoshenko government's sending a formal letter to IMF headquarters, confirming in writing Kiev was in agreement with the terms of the second tranche.
