“Rather passive attitude”
Kyiv complains about hesitant IMF
09/11/2022, 06:19 am
In addition to massive military aid, Ukraine urgently needs money in view of the economic downturn caused by the war. Prime Minister Schmyhal is dissatisfied with the work of the International Monetary Fund.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has accused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of failing to support his country at war. Unlike the US and the European Union, which are leading in supporting Ukraine, “we see a rather passive attitude at the IMF,” he said at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) international forum in Kyiv.
Ukraine applied to the IMF for a new aid program in August. Because of the Russian invasion, the country’s economy threatens to shrink by more than 30 percent this year. “We are doing our best, we sent them the documents and we are calling on the IMF to really step up its activities,” Schmyhal said.
At an informal meeting in Prague on Friday, the EU finance ministers cleared the way for a new tranche of aid for Ukraine. The approved five billion euros are part of a so-called macro-financial aid for Ukraine amounting to nine billion euros, which Brussels announced in May. According to Schmyhal, the EU is to give Ukraine a loan of three billion dollars (2.98 billion euros) in October.
All in all, the commitments for short-term aid for Ukraine amount to 39 billion euros. According to an EU diplomat, however, this is likely to be insufficient, since the calculation of the aid was based on the assumption that the Ukraine war would end at the end of August.
In addition, the enormous costs of rebuilding the country have not yet been taken into account. The World Bank had estimated these costs on Friday at 349 billion euros according to the current status. However, this sum will continue to increase in the coming months if the war continues.