The deficit of the Pension Fund is one of the largest obstacles on the way to obtaining the next tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Minister of Social Policy Andrei Reva said, Finance.ua reports.

“In fact, IMF does not require anything beyond the clouds. It is not the charitable organization. It lends us funds. It should have guarantees that these funds will be repaid. And, if so, it, as the lender, draws our attention to those problem moments, which we have. First of all, it refers to financial problems. The deficit of the Pension Fund is the largest financial problem”, - Reva said.

According to the minister, we need to achieve agreement with IMF.

“The lender makes proposals on solving those problem issues, which it sees. Therefore, we hold discussion on how we will solve this problem. If you do not want to follow our recommendations, then please make yours. Convince us that your recommendations are leading to the same purpose in other way. That is why, today we are having this discussion. We say that this way, which we were offered today, is not correct for us. We think that there is other possibility – to reduce the deficit of the Pension Fund”, Reva said.

“Previously, the mass media reported that IMF laid down seven new requirements for Ukraine, including raising the pension age. In his turn, Vice Prime Minister Pavel Rosenko ensured that the incumbent government will not undertake any measures on raising the pension age. In addition, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman noted that the messages regarding raising the pension age, which IMF allegedly requires, are spread for intimidating people”.

Reva already explained that the pension age in Ukraine will not be raised, and all IMF recommendations are approved during the negotiations.

By the way, according to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, the approval of last technical issues regarding provision of the next tranche of macrofinancial aid to Ukraine may be expected within the nearest several days.

In March 2015, Ukraine and IMF signed the memorandum on the economic and financial policy, which the country should conduct under the extended financing facility (EFF) program. The program provides the receipt of around 17 bln dollars by Ukraine, out of which USD 7.7 bln dollars were already allocated.

Thus, in September 2016, after the one-year delay, IMF approved the provision of the third tranche, amounting to USD 1 billion, to Ukraine.

The Cabinet of Minister of Ukraine expects that the amount of the fourth tranche of IMF loan under EFF program will amount to USD 1 billion.