A new 48-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme for Ukraine, totaling about $8.1 billion (SDR 5.9 billion), approved by the IMF Executive Board on Friday night, will be immediately reviewed in the event of successful peace negotiations, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.
“Under the program, the authorities are committed to tackling longstanding bottlenecks to growth, including through combatting corruption, promoting the formalization of economic activities, addressing tax avoidance and evasion, reforming energy markets, and strengthening financial market infrastructure,” she emphasized in the IMF press release published on its website.
Georgieva noted that, thanks to skillful policy design, the support of the previous 2023 EFF programme, and exceptional financial assistance from international partners, Ukrainian authorities have maintained overall macroeconomic and financial stability, achieved progress in mobilizing domestic revenues, advanced several critically important reforms, and completed a restructuring of commercial external debt.
“The economy recovered, inflation was contained, and reserve buffers rebuilt. Nevertheless, the war has taken a toll on economic and social conditions, with slowing growth and the outlook remaining subject to exceptionally high uncertainty,” the IMF head described the current situation.
She also reported that a significant group of IMF shareholders reaffirm their recognition of the Fund’s status as a preferred creditor regarding amounts currently owed by Ukraine, as well as any purchases under the new extended agreement. These shareholders include Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They also commit to providing adequate financial support to ensure Ukraine’s ability to meet all obligations to the Fund under the Fund’s preferred creditor status, complementing the Fund’s multi-layered risk management framework, Georgieva added.
“Risks to the EFF arrangement are exceptionally high. The success of the program will depend not only on continued support by the international community to help close fiscal and external financing gaps and restore debt sustainability, but also the authorities’ steadfast determination in implementing ambitious structural reforms and readiness to undertake additional measures if needed,” the IMF Managing Director concluded.
Since March 2023, a four-year EFF programme with the IMF totaling $15.6 billion has been in effect, with the next, 9th tranche of SDR 1.117 billion ($1.6 billion at current rates) scheduled for December 2025.
Initially, the existing programme envisioned total external financing for Ukraine with the participation of international partners of $115 billion in the baseline scenario and $140 billion in the downside scenario. However, with the prolongation of the war, these figures were increased to $153 billion and $165 billion, respectively.
During the IMF mission in Kyiv from September 3 to 10, 2025, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, together with the head of the National Bank of Ukraine Andrii Pyshnyi and Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko, officially requested the IMF for a new programme. The need for a new programme arises from Russia’s ongoing war, while the current EFF programme was originally planned to conclude by March 2027.
