Ukraine hopes to complete talks with international lenders as soon as possible to help repay the country's outstanding foreign debt, Finance Minister Alexandr Shlapak said here Friday.
"Our task is to borrow at least 9 billion U.S. dollars on foreign markets to ease the pressure on the country's foreign exchange reserves," Shlapak told the parliament.
Although the state treasury is empty and the economy is deteriorating due to unstable political climate, the Ukrainian government will do its best to fulfil Kiev's debt obligations, Shlapak promised.
The Ukrainian economy is facing bankruptcy over high budget deficit, huge state debt and low foreign exchange reserves, which dropped in March to 15.080 billion dollars, the lowest level ever.
To keep the economy afloat, the government is negotiating a loan between 14 billion and 18 billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund, which could also unlock financial help from other international lenders.