In early July, thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Ukrainian capital Kiev to try to block pension reforms promised as part of the country’s IMF loan. The protest involved both Ukraine’s trade unions and the political opposition. Reuters reported opposition legislator Andriy Pavlovsky as saying: “We will do our best to stop this pension genocide.” The law was approved anyway, raising the retirement age for women from 55 to 60, though the country has relatively low life expectancy. Despite the reforms, in August the IMF delayed the next review mission until October, demanding “strong policies and reforms to overcome delays”, meaning a longer wait for the next tranche of funds to be released.