IMF Council approves $1.1 bln for Ukraine

The Board of Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the allocation of the next tranche of $1.1 billion to Kiev under the Extended Credit Facility (EFF) approved in March 2023. The corresponding statement of the fund on December 20 was published on its official website.

"The IMF Executive Board has completed the sixth review of the EFF for Ukraine, which will allow for the disbursement of about $1.1 billion, which will be used for budget support," - specified in the message.

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Earlier in the day, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that during the conflict in Ukraine, the United States and Europe have spent about €310 billion to help Kiev. He added that without money from allies, Ukraine would not have been able to continue the conflict on its own.

The day before, on December 19, it became known that the UK, along with other allied countries , invested more than $1.63bn (£1.3bn) in Kiev through the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), which was established in 2022. It was specified that the financing is specifically through the fund to speed up the process of purchasing priority armed equipment for Ukraine.

On December 18, the European Commission transferred to Kiev a tranche of €4.1bn from the European Fund for Ukraine. Thus, as noted, the volume of macrofinancial lending under the fund was brought to €16.1bn.

Before that, on December 4, Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding and a loan agreement with the European Union to attract €35bn in aid to Kiev. It was specified that the funds are part of the initiative of the G7 countries on the mechanism of additional loans to increase revenues to the country's budget.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of Russia's special operation to protect Donbas, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 24 February 2022 after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.