IMF to create special account for countries to make donations to Ukraine

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved to open a special account that will allow countries to donate securely to
Ukraine as its war with Russia has surpassed the six-week mark.

In a statement released on Friday, the IMF Executive
Board said that the account had been approved “at the request of several IMF
member countries.” According to the organization, the account will
“channel donor resources in the form of grants and loans” that should
stabilize the country’s economy, while donors will “benefit from the IMF’s
tested infrastructure to quickly deliver authenticated payments”.

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Ukraine may receive the first large donation from the
government of Canada, which played a key role in the creation of the account
and has pledged a loan of 1 billion Canadian or approximately $796 million in
US dollars, as part of its annual federal budget.

Vladyslav Rashkovan, alternate executive director for
Ukraine at the IMF, wrote on Facebook, “$1 billion from Canada will be
sent to help the Ukrainian Government through IMF tools. Today the IMF Board of
Directors approved the opening of a special administrative account to transfer
money from donor countries to aid Ukraine”.

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“The Ministry of Finance and I lobbied for this
decision together with the Canadian Government, and from the very beginning we
also received support from the Netherlands, Poland, Scandinavia and Baltic
countries,” he added.

According to Reuters, the Canadian budget said that a big
loan was needed to ensure that the Ukrainian government can continue to provide
essential services. Canada is home to 1.4 million Ukrainians, the country’s
second-biggest diaspora after Russia.

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Speaking of the motivation to create the account and
supply funds, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said it’s clear that
the biggest danger in the world is the threat from Russian President Vladimir
Putin, reported the Global and Mail. “In Bucha, we saw a regime that is
truly criminal,” she added.