By David Lawder
BENGALURU, Feb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary
Janet Yellen stepped up calls on Thursday for increased
financing support to Ukraine to help it battle the year-old
Russian invasion as the United States readies an additional $10
billion in economic assistance in coming weeks.
Yellen, speaking in remarks prepared for delivery to a news
conference as G20 finance leaders gathered on the outskirts of
the Indian technology hub of Bengaluru, said it was critical for
the International Monetary Fund to "move swiftly" towards a
fully financed loan programme for Ukraine.
"As President Biden has said, we will stand with Ukraine in
its fight – for as long as it takes," she said. "Continued,
robust support for Ukraine will be a major topic of discussion
during my time here in India."
Ukraine is seeking a $15 billion multi-year IMF programme,
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday after meeting IMF
Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Kyiv.
Yellen said that previous U.S. military, economic and
humanitarian aid totalling $46 billion has allowed Ukraine to
preserve economic and financial stability under "extraordinary
circumstances."
"Our economic assistance is making Ukraine’s resistance
possible by supporting the home front: funding critical public
services and helping keep the government running. In the coming
months, we expect to provide around $10 billion in additional
economic support for Ukraine."
The U.S. aid was approved by Congress in December as part of
a broad government funding bill that included a new $45 billion
package of emergency military and other assistance to the
war-torn country.
MITIGATING SPILLOVERS
Yellen in her remarks said the global economy "is in a
better place today than many predicted just a few months ago,"
with concerns fading that the Ukraine war' spillovers would
cause growth to slow sharply.
She said while headline inflation was beginning to ease in
the United States and across the globe, it was important for G20
finance officials to keep working to quell inflation, adding:
"We are not out of the woods yet."
She said price caps imposed by Western countries on Russian
crude oil exports and petroleum products were helping to
stabilize global energy prices while reducing Russia's energy
revenues "substantially."
"Last month, the Kremlin’s oil revenue was nearly 60 percent
lower than in the immediate aftermath of the invasion," she
said, adding that it was enabling emerging markets, including
India, to negotiate steep discounts on Russian oil.
Yellen said that G20 countries need to work to ease the debt
overhang that is putting more than half of low-income countries
in debt distress.
"I will continue to push for all bilateral official
creditors, including China, to participate in meaningful debt
treatments for developing countries and emerging markets in
distress," she said, adding that debt treatment for Zambia and
financing assurances for Sri Lanka were "most urgent"
The G20 meetings also will be a key venue for working to
advance reforms to the World Bank and other multilateral
development banks to expand their lending to fight climate
change, pandemics and other global challenges, she said.
She commended departing World Bank President David Malpass,
saying that the bank under his leadership has "measurably
improved the lives of people around the world."
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
david.lawder.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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