WASHINGTON – The International Monetary Fund was prepared to bring Ukraine’s $8.2 billion loan package to its executive board within days, after the war-ravaged country met requirements and secured other financing assurances from partner nations, the IMF’s top spokesperson said Thursday.
“The (Ukrainian) authorities have met all of the prior actions needed to move forward with the program request,” said Julie Kozack, director of the IMF communications department said in a press briefing.
Those prior actions included the submission of a draft labor code law to parliament on January 19 and the adoption of the 2026 budget in December in line with IMF program objectives.
“The total size of the program is $8.2 billion over four years. This program will help finance critical expenditures, maintain macro-financial stability, and unlock additional external support — support that will be vital for Ukraine in the years ahead,” Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko posted on X.
In order to get to this point, Ukraine’s government and the IMF agreed to ease some conditions, including sensitive tax increases, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Saturday, as reported by Reuters.
The agreement still faced a critical test in the Ukrainian parliament. It was not clear whether the parliament would approve the IMF’s most politically sensitive demand, new taxes on individual entrepreneurs. Ukrainian officials admitted the votes were far from guaranteed.
The board would decide whether the tax or any other preconditions would be required before the IMF approves the funding. “After the board meeting, they will lay out, of course, the near term conditionality, which you know, which will help support the program going forward,” said Kozack.
That approval of the $8 billion package would carry economic benefits to Ukraine well beyond the IMF program itself.
The IMF’s approval is a prerequisite for a 90-billion-euro ($106.8 billion) European Union loan to Ukraine. In a previous press briefing on Jan. 15, Kozack signaled the IMF’s backing for the broader financing effort, saying the IMF welcomed the European Council’s agreement to provide 90 billion euros in financial support to Ukraine over 2026 and 2027.
The 90-billion-euro package is structured to cover Ukraine’s full financing needs through 2027, with 60 billion euros earmarked for weapons procurement through a special account approved by the EU, according to the German Marshall Fund. The loan is designed to be debt-neutral for Kyiv, repayable only once Ukraine receives reparations from Russia.
The German Marshall Fund also noted that 60 billion euros to Ukraine is a “survival budget.” Ukraine’s military spending is currently at nearly 43% that of Russia’s military budget, which makes it sufficient to slow Russia’s advance but insufficient to enable a decisive Ukrainian breakthrough. The think tank also noted that this comes when U.S. support for Ukraine has become less reliable.Ukrainian officials are pushing to close the deal with the IMF before the month is out.
“I would expect it in a matter of weeks,” Ukraine’s debt management head Yuriy Butsa told Reuters on the sidelines of meetings in London. “I think February is still doable in terms of a timeline.”
The IMF requirements included the introduction of value-added tax on individual entrepreneurs with an annual income of more than 4 million hryvnias (US$92,800). Ukraine successfully negotiated the threshold up from 1 million hryvnias, meaning two-thirds of sole traders would be exempt. Still, experts warned that the tax could support the expansion of the shadow economy.
But so far, according to the prime minister, there were not enough votes in the parliament to approve the tax.
“Our partners expect that in March we will adopt these changes in the first reading and in general. But we are honest: the situation with votes in the parliament is difficult,” Svyrydenko noted.
The easing of conditions followed a visit of Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, to Kyiv in mid-January. RBC-Ukraine sources familiar with the negotiation process said that it was the key event for easing the conditions for the loan program.
“The war continues to exact a heavy toll on Ukraine’s people and on its economy,” Kozack said, referencing intensified aerial attacks through 2025 and into 2026 battering critical energy and logistics infrastructure. “After four years of war, [Ukraine] has settled into a slower growth path with a larger fiscal deficit and a larger current account deficit.”
The full macroeconomic picture, she added, will be released in the staff report following the board meeting.
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