KIEV, Oct 29: Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday gave the green light to anti-crisis laws aimed at releasing a massive emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund, with final approval expected on Thursday.

The measures include the creation of a stabilisation fund to provide credit to the ex-Soviet country’s ailing banking sector and to companies struggling to cope with both debts and a collapse in Ukraine’s key metals industry.

The IMF has said it will give Ukraine $16.5 billion dollars if the legislation is passed. Opposition lawmakers have warned the conditions imposed by the IMF will hit Ukraine’s social spending.

A majority of 248 deputies voted in favour of the bill in the first of two required readings, television showed, after days of negotiations on how to react to the country’s financial crisis.

Ukraine has been among the countries hardest hit by global financial turmoil as a plunge in the price of steel, its main export, exacerbates a credit crunch and a sharp fall in stock prices.

Political infighting has also complicated the government’s response.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is locked in battle with President Viktor Yushchenko over his bid to dissolve parliament and organise snap parliamentary elections in December.—AFP