KIEV – Ukraine’s parliament has approved Volodymyr Groysman as the country’s new prime minister in the biggest political shakeup since a 2014 uprising brought in a pro-Western leadership.

MPS voted Groysman, the former parliamentary speaker, to take over his predecessor Arseniy Yatsenyuk who resigned on Sunday by 257 to 50.

Mr Yatsenyuk had been in office since former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted during huge demonstrations in February 2014.

President Petro Poroshenko hopes the appointment of the former parliamentary speaker will end months of political deadlock that has delayed billions of dollars in foreign loans to shore up Ukraine’s war-battered economy.

But the departure from the cabinet of experienced technocrats who led strategic talks with Western lenders and investors, including US-born Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko, has rattled pro-European reformists. Some deputies said the new government would struggle to get laws approved.

Speaking ahead of the vote, Groysman, said his government was committed to tackling corruption and strengthening ties with the European Union.

“I understand the threats that face us. In particular I would like to highlight three threats – corruption, ineffective governance and populism, which do not pose less of a threat than the enemy in eastern Ukraine,” he said, referring to the conflict with pro-Russian separatists.

A new government should allow talks to resume on the disbursement of a third tranche of loans from the International Monetary Fund worth $1.7 billion ($A2.21 billion), delayed since October. The funds are needed to shore up foreign reserves and defend the hryvnia currency, which lost about a third of its value in 2015.

– with Reuters