A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is discussing in Kyiv broad economic policies on which a new cooperation program can be based, Director of the IMF External Relations Department Gerry Rice has said.

"We will update the media on the outcome of that mission, which is expected to conclude the week of February 11," he said on January 31, at the IMF's bi-weekly press briefing in Washington.

The mission led by Christopher Jarvis arrived in Kyiv on January 29. The mission is planning to work in Ukraine until February 12.

Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Ihor Prasolov said on January 30 that Ukraine is not expecting the rapid signing of a new cooperation program with the IMF after its mission's visit ends.

"It is not thought that right after the mission's work at the beginning of February we will immediately sign in Kyiv or travel there [to the United States] and sign a memorandum. The IMF mission's main task now is to study the situation in Ukraine," Prasolov said.

Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov said on January 14 that Kyiv intended to get opened a new program of financial cooperation with the IMF to the tune of SDR 10 billion.

The previous Stand-By Arrangement between Ukraine and the IMF terminated in December 2012.

In late July 2010, the IMF decided to renew its loan partnership with Ukraine through a new Stand-By Arrangement worth SDR 10 billion (over $15 billion). According to the National Bank of Ukrain, the country succeeded in getting two tranches worth a total of SDR 2.25 billion ($3.4 billion).

The program was frozen at the stage of the second review in the spring of 2011. For a year and a half, Ukraine has been unsuccessfully trying to persuade the IMF to drop its objections to the government's subsidizing natural gas tariffs for households until the completion of its gas talks with Russia.