The International Monetary Fund and Ukraine have reached an agreement on a new disbursement of $690 million, bringing the total package of the current program to around $2.2 billion. At first glance, it's good news for a country at war. But as always with the IMF, the money comes with a price tag.

The deal is at the staff level and concerns the first review of the four-year arrangement. IMF mission chief Gavin Gray described it as "a stable anchor for the economic program at a time of exceptionally high geopolitical uncertainty" - a diplomatic way of saying that without this support, Ukraine's economy would be in even worse shape.

The conditions are where the hard part begins. The IMF is demanding a comprehensive tax reform to drastically raise state revenues, the elimination of the VAT exemption for small import shipments, a tougher fight against tax evasion, and a quick reform of simplified tax regimes to shrink the gray economy.

Ukraine's economic growth for 2026 is projected at just 1 to 1.6 percent, slowed by the war and global shocks. Even so, the country met all quantitative criteria through March, which the IMF called "extraordinary resilience."

For a Balkan reader, this is a familiar dynamic. The IMF hands over the money, but demands reforms that ordinary people feel the most - higher taxes, fewer exemptions, stricter collection. The help is real, but so is the cost. When the fund comes in through the door, the reforms come in through the window - and the bill, as usual, is paid by the citizen.