Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal named the five main sticking points to restarting the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) $5bn stand-by agreement (SBA) on March 10.

Ukraine received the first $2.1bn tranche last June after Parliament signed off on the so-called Anti-Kolomoisky banking law that was signed on May 18 and prevented the de-nationalisation of the now state-owned bank and its return to its former owner, oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky.

A second tranche of $700mn had been due to be paid out in the second half of last year, but after the Constitutional Court nixed a raft of anti-corruption laws in November that had been put in place at the IMF’s insistence, the fund de facto suspended the SBA programme, insisting the laws be re-enacted. A staff level assessment team reviewed Ukraine’s economy at the start of this year, but failed to sign off on restarting the SBA.

Shmyhal gave some more details of the state of the talks between Kyiv and the IMF, outlining the five main points that have snarled the relationship:

1) removing energy subsidies at the end of March;

2) agreeing with IMF on macroeconomic indicators for 2022-2023;

3) advancing judicial reforms, most notably concerning the High Council of Justice;

4) restoring criminal liability for public officials for not filing asset declarations, or doing so improperly;

5) adopting a law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) resolving the outstanding inconsistencies with the constitution.

The first issues relates to a decision by the government to subsidise domestic heating tariffs “temporarily” during this year’s cold winter, reversing an earlier commitment by the government to set tariffs at market rates.

The second issue is already largely resolved, after the government agreed to cut the planned budget deficit from 6% of GDP to 5.7% for 2021.

However, the remaining issues will be harder, as the government has resisted implementing judicial and law enforcement reforms to reduce corruption.

“The first two issues depend directly on the government and will likely be resolved without greater difficulties. However, the latter three topics concerning the judicial reform and anti-corruption could prove more challenging, as they require adoption of laws in Parliament,” consultant Teneo said in a note.

“Truly reform-oriented legislation might struggle to receive support in Parliament – particularly as the ruling Servant of the People (SN) group in Parliament is divided – while the watered-down bills might not satisfy the IMF. The next plenary session in Vekhovna Rada is scheduled for 16-19 March,” Teneo added.

As bne IntelliNews has reported in “The Oligarch Problem”, the Rada is stuffed with proxies for the oligarchs who are resisting judicial reforms, and the elite in government itself uses corruption as a tool to exercise power, as corruption is the system.