The International Monetary Fund requires Ukraine to fulfill structural beacons. In particular, it is about increasing funding for the army and appointing the managing director of the Deposit Guarantee Fund in an open competition. Representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank, and the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Taxation, and Customs Policy met with the IMF mission. The negotiations were difficult, as the creditors were not satisfied with the state of fulfillment of their requirements. This was reported by the chairman of the parliamentary committee Danylo Hetmantsev, UNN reports .
We had another meeting with the IMF with the participation of the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank. It was a difficult conversation. Obvious challenges,
According to him, the meeting focused on the draft law on tax increases that was rejected by the parliament.
The steps that need to be taken and the inevitability of disaster if delayed are obvious. In fact, the IMF is aware of the lack of resources even in the project that the Verkhovna Rada failed. VAT is suggested as an additional source. An additional tax on banks was also discussed. The discussion is ongoing,
However, for some reason, the head of the Tax Committee kept silent about the fact that, in addition to finding funding for the army, Ukraine has not yet fulfilled another condition set out in the Memorandum of Cooperation with the IMF - the development of a procedure for holding an open and transparent competition for the position of managing director of the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
If everything is so obvious and everyone understands that if the IMF's conditions are not met, a catastrophe for Ukraine will be inevitable, why are the basic requirements not being met?
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On September 2, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the launch of the fifth review of the EFF Extended Fund Facility program, which is being conducted by the IMF Mission to Ukraine. According to him, this will allow the Ukrainian budget to receive $1.1 billion this fall.
During its work in Ukraine, the IMF Mission will, among other things, check the implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund. According to this document, Ukraine, among other things, undertook to develop a procedure for appointing the managing director of the Deposit Guarantee Fund through an open competition, to make appropriate changes to the legislation, and to transparently appoint a new head of the Fund in the spring of 2025. However, so far, the Ukrainian side has not fulfilled this obligation.
The issue of appointing the head of the DGF has now become even more urgent. After all, the previous head of the Fund, Svitlana Recruit, resigned from her position and now the First Deputy Managing Director, Olga Bilai, is acting as Managing Director.
After Recruit's dismissal, it became known that the Fund's Administrative Board plans to appoint a new head in a closed session. Two main candidates are currently being considered - Bilya and Pavlo Polarush, head of the National Bank's Department for Work with Troubled Assets, who is called by the media the main contender for this post.
Journalists found outthat Polarush repeatedly traveled abroad after the start of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. In particular, the journalists reported that in November 2022, he received permission to leave the country from the odious former Deputy Minister of Defense, who is currently a suspect in corruption crimes. The permit was allegedly issued to Polarush to travel abroad in an elite Lexus car to receive humanitarian aid. However, it is not yet known on what grounds Polarush traveled abroad from February to November 2022.
Member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Mykola Velychkovych believesthat law enforcement should investigate Polarush's travels abroad. And a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense, Hennadiy Kasai , does not rule outthat Polarush may have problems during the special vetting process as a candidate for the position of managing director of the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
At the same time, MPs and experts interviewed by UNN emphasize that the election of the new head of the Deposit Guarantee Fund should be transparent and open. And one of the main selection criteria, along with professionalism, should be the candidate's crystal clear business reputation.
It is extremely important to have an impeccable reputation. This is the key. It is important that this person has a decent reputation, is definitely a specialist and a patriot of Ukraine, and does not represent the interests of someone else,