During the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting held in Kyiv on September 9-10, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal called on partners to promote cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, as the Fund is a pillar of the country's further financial development.

"In 2014-2015, when this war began, we had good relations with the IMF. The Fund was a true leader in supporting Ukraine. We received then USD 17 billion. The IMF was quite responsive at the start of the full-scale invasion in March when we got very quick help from them. Now, unfortunately, we have skidding. We hope and work with our partners to speed up the cooperation and response of the IMF, which is meant to support countries in a situation like we are facing," said Denys Shmyhal.

The Prime Minister has noted, Ukraine is nowadays spending considerable resources on financing the army and social obligations: pensions, payments to IDPs, demining. According to the Head of the Government, about 40% of the budget is financed by international partners.

"The United States and the European Union have demonstrated leadership in this direction of support. In particular, this week there were talks with the Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen regarding the prospects for the completion of this year and activities in the next," stressed Denys Shmyhal.