First Destroy, Then Ask for Help: Poroshenko Hopes to Get $7Bln From IMF

Kiev counts on receiving $7 billion in assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

KIEV (Sputnik) — In March 2015, the IMF approved a four-year $17.5-billion assistance package to Ukraine to revive the country's economy and encourage a series of reforms. Kiev has already received two tranches under the financial-aid program.

"Ukraine expects $7 billion from IMF," Poroshenko told CNN in an interview, as quoted by the Ukrainian president's administration on Twitter.

After holding a meeting with the IMF head, Christine Lagarde, on Thursday, Poroshenko announced that Kiev was expecting to receive the next tranche from the fund in February.

Later that day, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said Kiev awaited the IMF to approve a new memorandum on cooperation and the allocation of the third financial tranche to Ukraine.

Economic situation in Ukraine has been deteriorating since a coup in February 2014. The country's GDP fell by 6.8 percent in 2014, while inflation reached 24.9 percent. According to the IMF projections for 2015, Ukraine's GDP was expected to fall by 9-11 percent and inflation to amount to 46 percent.