Ukraine seeks combined IMF aid tranches

Ukrainian Finance Minister Alexandr Shlapak on Wednesday voiced hope that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will consider a possibility of combining the third and fourth tranches of its aid program for Kiev.
"We want to combine the third and fourth tranches. We expect it would be around 2.2 billion U.S. dollars. We hope to receive the aid by the end of the current year," Shlapak told reporters during a media briefing.
Shlapak said that Ukraine is also awaiting the second tranche of 1.4 billion dollars from the aid package to boost the state budget and stabilize the financial market.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said that his country expect that the IMF will decide on the disbursement of the second tranche this month.
Ukraine received a 3.19-billion-dollar first tranche in May and used it to boost its weak foreign exchange reserves and stabilize the macroeconomic and financial situation.
In order to receive the second tranche, the IMF said, Ukrainian authorities have to push forward reforms agreed with the fund.
On April 30, the IMF approved a two-year 17-billion-dollar loan package for Ukraine to keep the country's ailing economy afloat amid economic and political turbulence.