FILE PHOTO - Ukraine's Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy attends a flower-laying ceremony at a monument to servicemen killed during the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan, on a day honoring participants of combat operations on the territories of foreign countries in Kiev, Ukraine, February 15, 2017. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

KIEV (Reuters) - The Ukrainian parliament should adopt a law to create an anti-corruption court before May, its speaker told the head of an International Monetary Fund mission to Kiev on Thursday.

Slow progress in establishing an independent court to deal with corruption cases has been one of the main obstacles to the disbursement of loans under a $17.5 billion aid-for-reforms program from the Fund.

Parliamentary Speaker Andriy Parubiy told IMF mission chief Ron van Rooden that the relevant bill would be included in parliament’s agenda at the end of February.

“He (Parubiy) forecast it would be adopted before May,” a statement posted on the parliament’s website said.

Establishing the court, sticking to gas price commitments and implementing sustainable pension reform are the key conditions Ukraine must meet to qualify for the next loan tranche of around $2 billion from the IMF.