Parliament Completes One More IMF Requirement

UKRAINE - In Brief 13 Jul 2018 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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Yesterday, on July 12, Ukrainian parliament finally approved the amendment to the law on the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) moving the already-heard corruption cases for appeals in Appeal chamber of the HACC. Initially the currently filed corrupt cases were subject for appeals in the regular courts and this approach was criticized by the IMF.The amendment was among the four IMF requirements Christine Lagarde outlined for the fourth review of the EFF program.The list included:approval of the supplementary law to formally establish the HACC;amendments to the law on HACC, authorizing the HACC to adjudicate all cases under its jurisdiction, including all appeals of relevant first instance court decisions;gas prices’ increase;the budget;By now the first two points are completed. Now it’s turn to increase gas prices. But readiness of the authorities suddenly evaporated as elections are becoming so close. Prime-minister Volodymyr Groysman previously declared his determination to complete this step but recently he became hesitant. In particular, today he reported to media that he is reluctant to increase gas prices for people and that he still runs consultations on this issue. Since we are already in the mid of July, potential review of the EFF program could start only in September. At that stage budget 2019 will be already on agenda. We expect hot debate over the spending plan 2019 in view of approaching elections and in light of President Poroshenko support to the law on tax on withdrawn capital.