The International Monetary Fund announced Friday it will provide $1.3 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine through its new food crisis assistance program.
The package will help meet Ukraine's "urgent balance of
payment needs... while playing a catalytic role for future financial support
from Ukraine's creditors and donors," the IMF said in a statement.
"The scale and intensity of Russia's war against
Ukraine that started more than seven months ago have caused tremendous human
suffering and economic pain.... Real GDP is projected to contract by 35 percent
in 2022 relative to 2021 and financing needs remain very large."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had 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."
For her part, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva
said that key policies have been geared toward safeguarding priority
expenditures and preserving financial stability.
"Creditors and donors -- through the relevant Executive
Directors at the Fund -- have signaled that they intend to continue financially
supporting Ukraine to help achieve a balanced growth path and medium-term
external viability," she added.
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.
President Vladimir Putin announced late last month that
Russia had annexed four regions in Ukraine's south and east. But Kyiv's forces
in recent weeks have been pushing back against Russian soldiers across the
frontlines, including in parts of Donetsk.
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