"We are ready to help to wrap up the finalization of the program, and we are ready to finance it and recommend it for support in the international community," IMF managing director Michel Camdessus told a news conference in Kiev Wednesday.
"I have been impressed with the determination of the president and prime minister," Camdessus said. "I am certain the government can rapidly promote very decisive changes."
A $700 million loan from the IMF is the first hurdle Ukraine must clear to gain further access to a $4 billion economic assistance package offered by the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations earlier this month.
Camdessus was in Kiev on a two-day visit on the invitation of President Leonid Kuchma, who was elected three weeks ago on promises to improve the nation's deteriorating economy. Camdessus said Kuchma described his priorities as stabilization, liberalization, structural changes, social measures and means to gather international support.
"I told the president I agreed these five issues were crucial ones, but they were only headlines," Camdessus said. "In general, the devil is in the details."
An IMF team will work intensively with the Ukrainian government over the next two months to work out key aspects of Kiev's economic program which corresponded to IMF conditions, Camdessus said.
Central bank chairman Viktor Yushchenko told Interfax news agency the plan would be presented at an IMF session in October.
"We have started something and we have only decided on our working method. We will make a particular effort in the next two months to be reaching an agreement in this time," Camdessus said.
Four governments under Kravchuk failed to produce a comprehensive reform program. Industrial output declined 36 percent in the first half of the year, and a widening budget deficit has prompted the central bank to issue millions of dollars worth of unbacked credits.
Kuchma's decisive election victory over outgoing Leonid Kravchuk presented a "clear window of opportunity for action -- we cannot miss it," Camdessus said.
"This public call for decisive actions creates an urgent need for the government to come up with a program, and it obliges the international community to support this program, provided it is good and credible," he said.
Kuchma met Camdessus during a private visit to Washington in April, as a potential presidential candidate.
"He said, as soon as I am elected and have concrete proposals to discuss with you, please come see me," Camdessus said. "The president sent me an invitation the day after his inauguration, and here I am."
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