‘It Is Not for the IMF To Organize Parliament’, IMF’s European Director Says

Alfred Kammer talks to Kyiv Post about the shocks Europe faces from the Middle East war, priorities for his successors, Ukraine’s IMF progress, pressure on the Hryvnia, and tax votes in parliament. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied International Monetary Fund European Department Director Alfred Kammer in an interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, April 17, 2026. Photo by Iurii Panin / Kyiv Post Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google On the cusp of retirement, Alfred Kammer, International Monetary Fund (IMF) European Department director, is attending his final round of Spring Meetings. Europe has been recovering for over three years from the spike in energy prices triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Kammer’s job has been focused on assessing economic performance and overseeing IMF programs across the region, including supervising Ukraine’s hugely successful $15.6 billion Extended Fund Facility program – approved in 2023 – passing eight reviews to release tranches of money. Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . Ukraine meanwhile is experiencing drama in parliament. After the new $8.1 billion 2026-2029 IMF program began, the government failed to pass the required tax law amendments on time. The bills are tied to program benchmarks. If lawmakers do not approve them, Ukraine risks losing not only the next IMF tranche but also additional donor financing, as IMF backing often serves as a seal of approval for other lenders. Ukraine’s lawmakers previously told Kyiv Post they were not consulted before signing to vote for the tax amendments, causing a clash with the government. The IMF-required tax package consists of four separate bills: Kyiv Post spoke with Alfred Kammer shortly after a press briefing at which he presented the Regional Economic Outlook for Europe. The full interview has been edited for clarity and succinctness, while a video of the interview will be published separately. Other Topics of Interest Ukraine Extends Household Electricity Tariff Until October 2026 Households will continue paying Hr. 4.32 ($0.098) per kilowatt-hour (kWh), while electric‑heated homes keep a lower winter tariff, the government said. IMF leadership transition and what it means for Ukraine  Kyiv Post: Mr. Kammer, you are retiring from your post as director of the European Department. But the reshuffle, especially regarding Ukraine, appears to be much broader. IMF Mission Chief for Ukraine Gavin Gray is also nearing the end of his tenure, while your former deputy in the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, Uma Ramakrishnan, has moved to the African Department. So who will replace you, and how could these changes affect Ukraine? Alfred Kammer : So, on your first question regarding who will replace me, I can’t give you an answer, but I can assure you that the changes on our side will not impact our collaboration and our support for Ukraine. What you’re seeing is a small part of the team. We have a large team here. And of course, Ukraine is the largest program in terms of external financing and the first program the IMF ever put in place. With regard to the second program… there are lots of people working on [it]. I’m sure that these [staff] transitions will have no impact on our the fund’s support for Ukraine. There’s nothing to worry about. IMF Senior Communications Officer Camilla Perez, European Department Director Alfred Kammer and Deputy Directors Oya Celasun and Helge Berger brief the press on the latest Regional Economic Outlook for Europe during the 2026 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, April 17, 2026. (Photo by Jabin Botsford / courtesy of IMF Photo) You oversee the European economy, including Ukraine’s economy. Could you name between one and five priority tasks in the action list for your successors? Our number one priority clearly remains to support Ukraine. We have a new four-year program in place. Ukraine needs IMF support and we are an anchor for donors in order to provide huge financial support over this period. But we are also supporting the Ukrainian government in its reform effort. And we are providing an overall framework so that donors are assured that their money is going to be well spent. The Ukrainian government has a structural reform program and a macroeconomic program in place, helping to prepare for EU accession and ensuring macro stability. The second priority is supporting all countries in Europe during a very difficult period. When you’re looking at the shocks we have been seeing over the last two years, they have been global, deep, many and overlapping. So Europe needs to have policy-making capacity in place to deal with these enormous shocks, which are going to continue into the future. We also need to support European countries in their medium-term growth. For many European countries, growth projections for the medium term are dismal – we are talking about 1-1.5% every year. That is much lower than what we saw in the past. And why do we need higher growth? Well, first of all, higher income is better for living standards, and Europe wants to maintain social services. We also know that spending pressures are going to increase because of an aging society, rising healthcare costs and rising defense costs. Without that growth, fiscal consolidation is a hard thing to do. And so we need to have an agenda for all European countries, which is positive on enhancing productivity growth, therefore providing income that will provide fiscal sustainability to provide those services in the future. This is a shock-prone world. Europe is extremely vulnerable because Europe is an open continent for trade. It has been benefiting from globalization and interconnectedness but that now brings risk. We have seen that trade can be weaponized and supply chains are fragile. And sometimes you need to make decisions in order to provide and think about insurance so that these supply chains remain stable and cannot be disrupted. And that takes away from efficiency. But it’s necessary because the cost of disrupted supply chains can be huge. So those are the two priorities I would say the department and the IMF will have in Europe. International Monetary Fund European Department Director Alfred Kammer in an interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, April 17, 2026. Photo by Iurii Panin / Kyiv Post Something that I have never heard IMF mentioning before is the weaponizing of trade. Could you explain in one or two sentences any examples or how that affects Europe? We have countries being sanctioned. We have had disruptions because of export controls, especially food, and food crises. Rare earths are also now critical. So that is something to be careful about and to look at. And finally, we see vulnerability with regard to fossil fuel shocks. Europe is going to be particularly heavily affected because it is a large net importer of fossil fuels. Less so over time, but still very dependent on it. If the Europeans are continuing with decarbonizing energy, building up the renewables sector, providing baseload through nuclear, you could foresee a world where Europe becomes independent to some extent from fossil fuels for energy production. And when you’re thinking about all of the shocks we have experienced coming from oil and gas, that would be a huge blessing for Europe. IMF Senior Communications Officer Camilla Perez, Deputy Director Helge Berger, and IMF European Department Director Alfred Kammer leave the stage following the press briefing on the latest Regional Economic Outlook for Europe during the 2026 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, April 17, 2026. (Photo by Jabin Botsford / courtesy of IMF Photo) Let’s zoom in on Ukraine’s performance. How do you evaluate this under the IMF program? Ukraine has done a fantastic job making reforms under adverse conditions, and this was the best-performing IMF program we ever had in Ukraine. I think that’s a testament to the seriousness of policymakers, the skills of policymakers and the resilience of the population to make reforms under these circumstances. It’s a testament to collaboration and solidarity by the international community. Then let’s turn to the new 2026 IMF program. After the staff-level agreement, Ukraine saw turmoil in parliament over tax legislation linked to the deal . Kyiv Post reported that lawmakers were not properly “consulted” and did not fully understand the vote. Do you think the IMF could have done more to make sure everyone was on the same page beforehand? When it comes to program implementation, sometimes this is tough and you encounter a rough patch, but you need to overcome that. It also comes down to the strength in how we engage, trying to keep programs on track, even if sometimes things do not work quite as expected. International Monetary Fund European Department Director Alfred Kammer in an interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, April 17, 2026. (Photo by Iurii Panin / Kyiv Post) So what the IMF is doing in general, we are talking to parliamentarians; we want to hear what their views and concerns are. But we are also trying to explain what these reforms are about, why they matter, and why they’re good for the population. Sometimes where some groups don’t like them, feel some pain, or resist them, we try to make the case why for the larger population they are welfare enhancing and should be undertaken. We not only talk to the governing party but also to opposition officials. Let me ask a follow-up on that. During the last round of talks led by Gavin Gray, I spoke with several opposition parties and they told me the IMF did not meet with them, while it did meet with the president’s party. Can you elaborate on that? Alfred Kammer: I can’t because I don’t have this information. Throughout the program period we have been meeting with everybody involved and for us this is an important apart of providing a narrative and providing explanations. But I should also say that we need clear understanding: it is not for the IMF to organize parliament and to convince parliament about the necessity of voting “yes” on these reforms. That is a deeply democratic experience where the government and parliament need to get together, and that is not the role of the IMF. I see ourselves in this political spectrum as a neutral, objective, technocratic advisor to explain. But it is for government to make the case to parliament and for parliament to vote because they have been elected by the people. And therefore it is important that parliament is supporting the reform effort. And we can’t do without parliament. International Monetary Fund European Department Director Alfred Kammer in an interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, April 17, 2026. (Photo by Iurii Panin / Kyiv Post) Can we then say that it was the government who failed the job? I don’t want to put blame anywhere. ... Is this something extraordinary happening? When I look at the history of fund programs in Ukraine and across the globe, absolutely not. We have something very interesting in terms of how we structure programs. We have quarterly reviews in place with the purpose to make sure that if there have been new developments, we respond and adjust the program accordingly. De-shadowing the economy is very important because, in the end, a core part of the Ukraine program is to improve governance. And for that you need to de-shadow the economy. De-shadowing also has a secondary effect. We need to broaden the tax base and we need to bring in the informal sector because too much of that tax burden right now is carried by the formal sector. And yes, Ukraine not only needs that for EU accession. Ukraine needs that as part of a modern state which needs the financing to provide the social services which its citizens are going to demand. We have many measures in the program. We are trying to increase revenue and we are trying to de-shadow the economy. Those objectives have to be overarching. Ukraine Minister of Finance Sergiy Marchenko (left) and IMF European Department Director Alfred Kammer (right) at the Breakfast Meeting with Ministers and Governors for Central Eastern and Southeastern European Countries during the 2026 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, April 18, 2026. (Photo by Ariana Lindquist / courtesy of IMF Photo) Fiscal policy is clearly at the center of debate under the new program, and most benchmarks focus on that rather than monetary policy. Yet there has also been renewed debate over the exchange rate. For two years, Bloomberg has reported that the IMF has been urging Ukraine to allow greater Hryvnia depreciation. The NBU gave its own response. So what is the IMF’s official position – should Ukraine devalue the Hryvnia, keep the current policy, or take another path? To bust some myths on that, we have ongoing discussions on what the limitations are on the spending side. And the Ministry of Finance and government always needs to make hard decisions on that. And we have constant discussions on how to enhance their capacity to collect revenue because we need a prudent fiscal policy in order to deliver macro stability, but also the services for the Ukrainian population during the war. Strict conditionality also exists with the NBU I would not say that there are no strict targets there. They are there, and the NBU is very focused on meeting those. So when it comes to the exchange rate, what we have been advising – and this doesn’t only apply to Ukraine – is that when you have a flexible exchange rate, you need to be ready to use that as a shock absorber. So that flexibility should be maintained. Fixed exchange rate systems are very difficult to maintain. And they become very costly if you are locking yourself into something. So that’s the advantage of having a flexible exchange rate regime in Ukraine. International Monetary Fund European Department Director Alfred Kammer in an interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, April 17, 2026. (Photo by Iurii Panin / Kyiv Post) A second part of we are looking at is that Ukraine has a very good foreign exchange reserve buffer. Since we have spells of donor support not always coming in on time, we may have external shocks impacting the balance of payments. For that, again, you need to have the foreign exchange reserves as a buffer. And so it is important that that buffer is maintained until and unless you are hitting one of these shocks. You will know very well that the NBU is very focused on making sure that inflationary pressures, when they emerge, are quickly addressed. I said in the press conference today that in a war period you have nothing but severe negative supply shocks. So that’s putting pressure on the NBU to manage monetary policy with lots of agility, and being timely in its intervention in order to control inflation. And when a negative supply shock increases inflation, it’s important to make sure that we don’t have any second round effect and any de-anchoring of inflation. The NBU is doing a fantastic job on that front. What impact do you think the war in the Middle East could have on Ukraine’s economy, especially given that Ukraine has already weathered a difficult winter that could also have weighed on growth? The shock coming from the Middle East is a minor issue given that the first-order impact is the Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure. And when I’m looking at what the priorities of the government are, this is not like Western European countries thinking about fiscal support packages to protect the vulnerable or to keep prices at the gasoline stations low. Your government is fighting with all its heart and with all its might to be ready for the next heating season because that is very important… What Russia is doing to energy infrastructure is a much bigger shock than what is coming from the Middle East. Alfred Kammer (centre left), with Ukraine’s central bank governor Andriy Pyshyy (right), IMF Chief Kristaline Georgieva (centre right), central bank deputy governors and the IMF representatives during Georgieva’s visit to Kyiv on Jan. 15. (Photo courtesy of the National Bank of Ukraine) Many other governments are now focused on the war in the Middle East. We haven’t seen that they are being distracted from their focus on Ukraine, but we know already that when it comes to delivery of military goods, that has already been a question mark since so much of that war material is going to be used up in the Middle East. So there are many risks which could possibly materialize. But in our discussions with the Ukrainian government, what we see is a steadfast view on keeping macro stability and implementing reforms. Right now, concerning the energy crisis, there is a real commitment and a focus on discussions with donors on re-establishing that infrastructure, and hardening that infrastructure so that it cannot be destroyed anymore. That is one of the top priorities for the government right now. So the Middle East War is not the severe shock which other countries are experiencing. We’re wrapping up, but if there is one final message you would like to leave for Ukraine, the floor is yours. First of all, this is a horrible war that the Ukrainian population is suffering. And all our sympathies are with the Ukrainian population on this. Second point, the international community supports Ukraine, not just in terms of macro stability, but also in its next steps in having all the conditions in place for a successful EU accession. Final point: we have been working very closely together with a very committed Ukrainian government which wants to achieve these objectives. And for me personally, that has been one of the highlights – collaboration with my Ukrainian counterparts. We have always had one objective – looking for good solutions. Even if there were disagreements, we always tried to move forward and find solutions we thought were in the best interest of Ukraine. And I want to use this opportunity to thank all of my Ukrainian counterparts in government, as well as in the NBU, for their strong support when it comes to implementing this program, and for their seriousness in making all of this a success. It has been a pleasure working with them. International Monetary Fund European Department Director Alfred Kammer in an interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, April 17, 2026. (Photo by Iurii Panin / Kyiv Post) Olena Hrazhdan is the Business Reporter at Kyiv Post, covering Ukraine’s markets, business, and economic policy. While she reports broadly on economic issues, her core focus is banking, finance, monetary and fiscal policy. Olena previously wrote for leading Ukrainian business media and became a Fellow of the International Monetary Fund’s Journalism Fellowship in 2024.