Press Release No. 10/422

Press Release: IMF Mission Meets with Representatives of Trade Unions in Ukraine

November 8, 2010

The IMF mission for the first review under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) met today with representatives of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, the Independent Trade Unions Confederation, and the All Ukrainian Union of Workers’ Solidarity.

“We had a constructive exchange of views with the representatives of organized labor. We agreed on the importance of creating conditions for sustained economic growth and employment generation with a view to improve the living standards of the Ukrainian people.

We discussed extensively the need to take measures to ensure long term sustainability of the pension system through parametric reform and efforts to tackle the informal economy. We agreed on the importance of a fiscal adjustment that also protects the most vulnerable segments of the population,“ Thanos Arvanitis, Mission Chief for Ukraine, said following the meeting.

The SBA was approved on July 29, 2010 for SDR 10 billion (about US$15.8 billion) in support of the authorities’ economic adjustment and reform program (see Press Release No. 10/305).