Ukraine asks IMF to combine two aid tranches for total of $2.2 billion: IFX

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine wants the International Monetary Fund to combine the expected third and fourth tranches of a $17 billion dollar bailout package for a total of around $2.2 billion, Interfax quoted Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak as saying on Wednesday. Ukraine is already expecting the disbursement of a second slice of $1.4 billion from the IMF under the program on August 29. "We want to combine the third and fourth tranches. We calculate this will be about $2.2 billion and we count on receiving it before the end of the year," Shlapak said. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Richard Balmforth)