On March 11, 2020, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Ihor Umansky held a meeting with media outlets representatives. The Minister assured the attendees that the Finance Ministry's course remains unwavering: cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continues. The Government remains committed to implementing arrangements reached by the IMF with the former Cabinet of Ministers, which are encompassed in the text of the Staff Level Agreement.

"Of course, these agreements were reached with the view to a new Extended Fund Facility Arrangement already in November-December 2019. It would be correct for the incumbent Government to make the following statement now: we put them off and start from a blank sheet. The Government has decided to take previous developments as the basics and update them. Updating is a question of couple weeks," Ihor Umansky explained.

On March 10, the Ukrainian Government already discussed key issues with the IMF during a telephone conversation. The Minister noted that a visit to Washington would be prepared as soon as the need arises.

Answering journalists' questions, Ihor Umansky stressed that the Ministry of Finance will not review the state budget without a qualitative updated macroeconomic forecast, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture.

 "I would not like to touch upon budget parameters at all. We want to understand the macroeconomic framework on which we will build and review the state budget. So far, this macroeconomic framework is missing. The reason is the high volatility of the global financial markets and the global uncertainty regarding the coronavirus pandemic," the Minister said. The Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture will present an assessment of the macroeconomic situation next week.

On March 11, 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, on the proposal of the Minister of Finance Ihor Umansky, endorsed a decision to appoint two Deputy Ministers of Finance. Vasyl Shkurakov, who was appointed as the First Deputy Minister of Finance will work on budgetary and debt policies. Deputy Minister of Finance for European Integration Yuriy Heletiy will continue working with international financial organizations and on implementation of the Ministry of Finance policy on state-owned banks.