OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2010. In 2010, in the framework of cooperation under the new stand-by program Ukraine will receive two tranches from the International Monetary Fund totalling about 3 billion USD. The Government will direct the money to modernization of national economy and stabilize the financial situation in the country. This was said by the Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in the program "The exam is for the authorities" at the First National Channel.

"This year we get two tranches: one in September and another in early December, totalling about 3 billion USD. We plan to direct them primarily for modernization of our economy", - Mykola Azarov said.

According to him, now the Government is mandated to stabilize the economic situation in the country, to stimulate domestic demand: "This is the work of domestic refineries, the domestic market. Therefore, the main purpose of obtaining credit from the IMF - is the stabilization of the situation and use of resources for modernization of our economy".

Mykola Azarov said: The Government will carry out reforms in key sectors of economy. This should lead the country out of crisis and to give impetus to economic development. For example, the modernization of housing and communal services will stimulate the development of other industries - metallurgy, energy, construction, etc.

In addition, in the opinion of the Head of the Government, the fact that an open line of credit from the IMF would help Ukraine to attract additional investment, which, again, can be devoted to the development of national economy: "For Ukraine, for dimensions of those projects which Ukraine has now, 15 billion - is not a large amount. But, it is the favourable background against which we can attract a significant number of other investment resources.

At the same time, Mykola Azarov noted that during the negotiations with the IMF mission, the Government was defending the national interests, and the results are compromises for both sides: "These decisions were fairly difficult, but they all have a certain balance. They are aimed at improving the independence of business entities to increase their accountability". The Prime Minister recalled that the IMF, in particular, required reducing budget funding: "It was about how we can perform these cuts. Initial claims for the reduction of 25 billion, and we agreed to reduce by 16 billion. That is why we find such a compromise, based on the internal realities, because we know better what we can do, and what reductions we are not able to undertake".

In this, Mykola Azarov noted that these reductions do not touch upon social spending: "The Government did not cut social spending for single hryvnya. This is a protected budget items, so the Government has no right to do that. "We have, on the one hand, reduced budget funding of various programs, but on the other hand we have created an environment in which the subjects of market activity can apply for loans, and Government partially compensates for the interest rates on these loans," - the Prime Minister said.