IMF mission says Kyiv making progress:
A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said at the conclusion of an eight-day visit to Kyiv that Ukraine has made considerable progress in restoring macroeconomic stability during the past year, despite difficult circumstances faced by the war-torn country.
The IMF mission said on May 18 that it was important for the Ukrainian government to boost its efforts to ensure fiscal and financial stability.
It said Kyiv also needed to "decisively enhance transparency and the rule of law," and to reform a large and inefficient sector of state-owned enterprises.
The mission said implementation of strong measures in those areas would clear the way for the IMF executive board to consider the resumption of a $17.5 billion loan program that has been held up since October amid concerns about corruption.
New Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman has pledged to maintain the momentum of reforms with a focus on fulfilling commitments to the IMF. (Reuters, AP)
The parents of Jamala, the winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, say their daughter's victory has unified Crimean Tatars. The Ukrainian performer won the competition with her song 1944, about the deportation of 240,000 Crimean Tatars by Soviet leader Josef Stalin. Jamala's father said old ladies had been praying for his daughter to win. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
