London's High Court of Justice's decision on 'Yanukovych's debt' case will not affect cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF
The IMF acknowledged the London's court decision on the case regarding Ukraine’s debt to Russia, but indicated it did not influence their current agreement with Ukraine, as was reported by Interfax-Ukraine.
The Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated that they are not influenced by the decision of the High Court of Justice in London in a lawsuit by the Russian Federation regarding the $3 billion worth of Eurobonds owed to them by Ukraine, as indicated in the Fund’s documents.
The documents also note that the High Court approved an expedited consideration of the Russian Federation's lawsuit against Ukraine, however at the same time it decided to freeze the execution of this decision until the next meeting, which is expected in late May. The court also granted Ukraine the right to appeal the decision.
"Therefore, the decision of the court in London does not change the IMF mission's conclusion that Ukraine complied with all the requirements within the framework of the updated Lending-into-Arrears Policy," the IMF said.
At the same time, the document notes the need for further efforts on the part of Ukraine to resolve this situation in order to achieve the goals set by the program.
The head of the IMF mission in Ukraine, Ron Van Rooden, during a conference call on Tuesday said that the Board of Directors will conduct an assessment of Ukraine's compliance with the IMF lending policy during all future revisions of the EFF cooperation program.
On March 29th the High Court of Justice in London approved an expedited consideration of the lawsuit brought by the Russian Federation against Ukraine concerning the $3 billion in Eurobonds owed. At the same time, the Court's decision lacks a final decision on the essence of the dispute. In addition, the decision says that some of the definitions it contains need clarification, and there are many important issues that the court must deal with prior to making a final decision.
Kyiv intends to challenge the decision of the London's High Court of Justice. The court gave Ukraine permission to file an appeal.
In addition, during the trial, the plaintiff stressed the standard structure of the transaction for issuing Eurobonds. The court recognized that the transaction is a standard debt operation, though it was carried out under unusual circumstances.
Previously, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation refused to discuss the restructuring of Eurobonds on general terms, insisting on a sovereign rather than a commercial nature of the debt.
The IMF recognized the sovereign nature of the debt, but retained the possibility of continuing to finance Ukraine, despite defaulting on this debt.