IMF allocates $1.3 billion for financial support to Ukraine
New Delhi: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved the disbursement of $1.3 billion to Ukraine, the organization said in a statement.
The funds will be provided “under the food shock window of the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to help meet Ukraine’s urgent balance of payments needs.”
The organization projects the Ukrainian GDP to shrink by 35% in 2022.
In March, the IMF approved providing $1.4 billion in assistance to the Kyiv government.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled the IMF’s aid earlier Friday. “The money will go to Ukraine today,” he said on Twitter, thanking the crisis lender’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva and its executive board.
The IMF also said Ukrainian authorities “deserve considerable credit for having maintained an important degree of macro-financial stability in these extremely challenging circumstances.”
Last week, the World Bank granted Ukraine $530 million in additional aid to “meet urgent needs created by Russia’s invasion.” The bank said it had already mobilized almost $13 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, $11 billion of which had already been disbursed.
The same day, the US Congress approved a new $12.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, including $3.7 billion in military equipment. The United States has given a total of $65 billion to Kyiv since Russia invaded in February.
(Vinayak)
