IMF approves $17bn Ukraine loan package

The International Monetary Fund has approved a two-year, $17bn loan package for cash-strapped Ukraine as it seeks to regain stability following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The IMF assistance pledged in March was hinged on economic reforms in Ukraine, including raising taxes, freezing the minimum wage and raising energy prices - all steps that could hit households hard and strain the interim government’s tenuous hold on power.