Ukraine to Vie for Market Economy Status

A Ukrainian governmental delegation will attend the coming session of the Ukraine-USA commission slated for the latter half of April and the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Oleksandr Shlapak, minister for the economy and European integration, said on March 26, reports Interfax-Ukraine. According to him, at the April 18-20 session Ukraine will raise the issue of it being granted the status of a market economy country. Speaking on the current state of relations between Ukraine and the IMF, Minister Shlapak stressed that following the meeting of a regional group of IMF member states in Zagreb last week the fund “promised to once again review progress.” He stressed that Ukraine has no problems with getting money from the IMF under the extended financing facility (EFF) program. “Whatever the case, we will reject funding as the state actually does not need it, but it needs the IMF to register the progress of the Ukrainian reforms and the existence of favorable conditions for investment,” he said.