The Executive Board of the IMF has approved emergency funding to the value of $1.4bn for Ukraine, which is currently at war with Russia.
According to the IMF, Ukraine will fall into a deep and possibly long-lasting recession this year. Ukraine desperately needs financial help to mitigate the economic impact of the Russian invasion, which is still ongoing.
The IMF’s Executive Board sent a message of strong support to the Ukrainian people. According to the IMF:
“The war in Ukraine is resulting in tragic loss of life and human suffering. While the outlook is subject to extraordinary uncertainty, the economic consequences are already very serious, with refugee flows of over 2 million persons in just 13 days and large-scale destruction of key infrastructure in Ukraine.”
“This disbursement under the RFI, equivalent to 50 percent of Ukraine’s quota in the IMF, will help meet urgent balance of payment needs arising from the impacts of the ongoing war and will provide critical support in the short term while playing a catalytic role for financing from other partners.”
Fifteen days since the invasion
It has been fifteen days since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his armed forces to invade Ukraine. He had expected the operation, i.e., taking over the whole country, to take just a couple of days.
Putin did not expect the Ukrainians to resist so passionately and effectively. No major Ukrainian city has been completely taken by Russian troops. Thousands of Russian soldiers have died, many of them have run out of fuel and are suffering from severe cold and lack of food and water.
The Russian army’s ineptitude and overall weakness has stunned the world. The US, UK, NATO, and most of the world had believed that Russia was global military superpower along with the US, and more recently China. Clearly, Russia is not superpower, although it does have nuclear weapons. Under President Putin, rampant corruption has come at a price, both for Russia’s economy and its military might.