22 September 2016, Thursday, 16:43 166

No Demand To Raise Retirement Age In IMF Memorandum - Finance Ministry

HELP UKRAINIAN NEWS

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

The Ministry of Finance says the Memorandum of Cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not contain the demand to raise the retirement age.

Minister of Finance Oleksandr Danyliuk announced this for journalists on Wednesday, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The Memorandum touches upon narrowing of the Pension Fund deficit, according to him.

The minister recalled the need to adopt the law on commerce in farmlands.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, mass media reported the IMF to demand Ukraine carry out a pension reform to obtain the next tranche.

These demands include: gradual raising of the retirement age; introducing a common principle of pension benefits without any preferences for certain professions (except the military); extending the base for contributions to the social security system; and setting a fair tax treatment for pensions.

September 14, the IMF decided to disburse a third tranche of USD 1 billion for Ukraine under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

Initially, the third tranche was supposed in the amount of USD 1.7 billion and to be disbursed as long ago as 2015.

Then, Ukrainian authorities said that the IMF Executive Board could make the decision on the third tranche this June.

The Fund reduced the amount of the tranche from USD 1.7 billion to USD 1 billion because Ukraine had failed to meet all of its conditions.