KIEV, April 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday tweaked its own rules to hasten the passage of a banking law needed to unlock an $8 billion aid package from the International Monetary Fund to fight a looming recession caused by coronavirus.
Lawmakers agreed to limit the number of proposals they can submit while drafting legislation. It comes after a group of lawmakers saddled the banking bill with more than 16,000 amendments, potentially delaying it for months.
“Unfortunately, the parliament has been faced with an exceptional situation. We have never had 16,000 proposals before. This is a situation that could block the work of the parliament until the autumn,” said speaker Dmytro Razumkov.
The government says it urgently needs the IMF money to avoid a potential default this year, where it must repay around $16.5 billion. The government expects the economy to contract by around 4.8% while the IMF says it could shrink 7.7%.
The banking law, which prevents former owners of banks declared insolvent from regaining their assets, is seen as being against the interests of Ihor Kolomoisky, one of the country’s wealthiest tycoons.
The draft was passed at the first reading in March.
But before the final reading lawmakers, including those who once worked for Kolomoisky’s TV channel 1+1 and for some of his other businesses, flooded the bill with amendments. He denies that they did so at his behest.
Earlier parliament had spent more than three months voting on around 4,000 amendments for a land reform law that was also needed for the IMF deal.
Kolomoisky has fought a protracted legal battle against the government to reverse the 2016 nationalisation of PrivatBank, the country’s largest lender, which he used to co-own.
The government says shady lending practices under Kolomoisky caused billions of dollars of losses to PrivatBank that had to be plugged by the taxpayer. Kolomoisky denies wrongdoing and disputes the state’s characterisation of PrivatBank’s finances.
The government’s efforts to claw back some of the money were dealt a blow when a Kiev appeal court on Wednesday upheld a district court verdict made in 2017 that obliged PrivatBank to repay $259 million in deposits to two businessmen associated with Kolomoisky. Their money was included in a bail-in during PrivatBank’s nationalisation.
Thursday’s vote set limits on how many amendments can be added to a piece of legislation.
If there are more than 500 suggested amendments or if the number of amendments is five times higher than the number of articles in a draft law, each parliamentary faction will be asked to limit itself to five proposals each.
Independent lawmakers can submit one amendment. (Editing by Matthias Williams, William Maclean)
"smooth" - Google News
April 16, 2020 at 11:29PM
https://ift.tt/2Kc06lK
Ukrainian lawmakers smooth passage of banking bill needed for IMF loans - Reuters
"smooth" - Google News
https://ift.tt/30JhCVH
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Ukrainian lawmakers smooth passage of banking bill needed for IMF loans - Reuters"
Post a Comment