KIEV, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine is expecting to receive a total of 2 billion U.S. dollars from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this year, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said Thursday in a statement.

The first batch of the aid could be delivered to Ukraine at the beginning of the third quarter, according to Dmytro Sologub, deputy head of the NBU.

The funds will be used to replenish Ukraine's foreign exchange reserves, which stood at 18.2 billion dollars at the end of March.

Under the cooperation program launched in 2015, the east European country has received about 8.7 billion dollars from the IMF, which helped its economy to avoid collapse amid the crisis.

The disbursement of the aid was suspended since April 2017 over Ukraine's failure to implement the agreed reforms.

Ukraine's cooperation program with the global lender is set to end in March 2019.