Ukraine will continue its cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and will not refuse the next disbursement under a Stand-By Arrangement, First Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovsky said in an exclusive interview with the National Radio Company of Ukraine on Friday.

"We need to reengage with the IMF," Khoroshkovsky noted.

According to him, Ukraine needs IMF loans to pay the external debts in 2012-2013, which are currently quite high, but have not reached a critical point.

Moreover, Khoroshkovsky said, the renewal of Ukraine's cooperation with the IMF will give a positive signal to the market 'that those figures, which the Government of Ukraine demonstrates today, are real and they are developing rapidly'.

According to him, Ukraine has so far managed to repay its external debt without IMF loans, which indicates a fairly healthy state of the Ukrainian economy. At the same time the rejection of the IMF loan will lead to a slowdown in its development.

"If we talk about whether we cope or not, I'm sure that, of course, we cope, but it will only mean that the resource that we could send to the country's development, will go to debt servicing and thus will slow down our growth rates. In our opinion, this is not the best scenario, so of course we will continue our cooperation with the International Monetary Fund," Khoroshkovsky underscored.

He expressed confidence that the government will solve issues related to the next tranche of the loan, including the issues of tariffs. "I'm convinced that if we solve some difficult issues, including the issues of tariffs, we will be able to renew this cooperation," the first deputy prime minister said.

A reminder that Ukraine in 2013 hopes to get a new aid package from the International Monetary Fund under the continuing Stand-By Arrangement totaling USD 15.5 billion that has been frozen since last March.

Ukrinform