The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will support the Ukrainian economy regardless of the conditions of Ukraine’s cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, the bank’s officials told a news conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

EBRD Communications Director Jonathan Charles expressed the view that, ultimately, each project will be assessed by its own values and cost, separately from the terms of the International Monetary Fund. But this does not mean that Ukraine’s negotiations with the IMF are not important – these negotiations are important, because they deal with the economic situation in general and economic stability, he said, adding that, finally, Ukraine alone may decide whether it needs assistance from the IMF or not. EBRD’s job is to support Ukraine, regardless of whether it will appeal to the IMF, the bank’s communications director said.

At the same time, senior adviser to the bank in Kyiv, Anton Usov said that the IMF program is a certain “comfort factor” to the investor in Ukraine. He also believes that, from an economic point of view, the presence of the IMF program is very important for Ukraine in the current conditions.

The absence of the program does not tell on the EBRD financing directly, while indirectly it increases the value of resources for the Ukrainian companies, primarily for private companies, and then also for public ones, he said. Therefore, the IMF program is a macroeconomic shell, the presence of which, even if not used, is very important in today’s economic situation for markets such as Ukrainian, Usov stressed.

ukrinform