The West saw a major shift in the attitude toward Russian assets immobilized since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This was stated by the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andriy Pyshnyi, who spoke in an interview with the Voice of America, Ukrinform reports.
“Earlier they spoke very cautiously, and some (in the West – ed.) even denied the very possibility of utilizing these assets, now we hear statements from the G7 that these assets will remain immobilized. This is a major shift in the position, and we are considering this $50 billion loan as the first step on the path to gain access to the ‘body’ of immobilized assets,” Pyshnyi said.
In his opinion, this path will be neither simple nor quick, but “it seems to me that there have been very positive developments in this direction.”
The head of the NBU emphasized that these $50 billion within the loan are included in the base scenario of the International Monetary Fund during the fifth review of the Extended Fund Facility for Ukraine.
“This means that they (frozen funds – ed.) are considered by the IMF as a permanent source of financing budgetary needs,” he emphasized.
The chief banker also told how the dialogue with the International Monetary Fund and other donors is developing.
“Now, given the fact that the duration of the war and its intensity have been revised, the package of financial support from our partners has expanded and today already amounts to $151.4 billion, under the negative scenario it has also expanded, now it is already $187 billion,” Pyshnyi informed.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, in October, the IMF allocated Ukraine another tranche in the amount of $1.1 billion following the fifth review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Also, about $300 million came from Canada as concessional financing.
By the end of the year, more than $15 billion is expected to be received, of which $4.8 billion – under the SPUR program with the World Bank with the support of U.S. funds.
At the same time, international partners came significantly closer to providing Ukraine with a non-refundable loan, secured by income from immobilized Russian assets, in the amount of up to $50 billion within the framework of the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loans.
The U.S. government agreed to allocate its share in the amount of $20 billion within this loan, which will be provided under the guarantee of income derived from frozen Russian assets.
The EU’s share will be below EUR 35 billion and depend on the contribution from other G7 countries.
Photo: Voice of America
Source: National Bank governor: breakthrough in West’s perception of Russian assets
