IMF Okays More Emergency Funding For Ukraine

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva has announced that the financial institution has approved a new program to address food shortages, particularly in Ukraine, Juston Jones reported for the UK’s The Telegraph.

Photo Insert: International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva

Georgieva said the IMF executive board had approved $1.3 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine. The IMF said the emergency allocation, which follows other aid previously designated, would help Ukraine with its “large and urgent fiscal and external financing needs.”

Russian warships blocked shipments of Ukrainian grain out of the Black Sea for months, creating shortages in parts of the Middle East and Africa.

“The Ukrainian authorities deserve considerable credit for having maintained an important degree of macro-financial stability in these extremely challenging circumstances,” Ms. Georgieva added in the statement.

On Thursday, she made an address in which she lowered the IMF’s global economic outlook, citing recession risks because of higher inflation, a spike in borrowing costs and the continued disruptions in supply chains. She noted that the disruption in Russian gas supplies brought on by the war was inflicting pain on Europe, especially.

The announcement on the emergency funding was made days before the boards of governors of the IMF and the World Bank (WB) are scheduled to gather in Washington for annual meetings, which begin on Monday, Oct. 10.

WB president David R. Malpass, Ms. Georgieva and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal of Ukraine are scheduled to lead a discussion on Wednesday about support for Ukraine.

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