Washington, DC : The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today approved a disbursement of US$1.3 billion (SDR 1,005.9 million) under the food shock window of the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to help meet Ukraine's urgent balance of payments needs.
The scale and intensity of Russia's war against Ukraine that started more than seven months ago have caused tremendous human suffering and economic pain. Amid massive population displacement and destruction of housing and key infrastructure, real GDP is projected to contract by 35 percent in 2022 relative to 2021 and financing needs remain very large. This disbursement under the RFI (equivalent to 50 percent of Ukraine's quota in the IMF) will help meet urgent balance of payment needs, including due to a large cereal export shortfall, while playing a catalytic role for further financial support from Ukraine's creditors and donors.
The authorities deserve considerable credit for having maintained an important degree of macro-financial stability in these extremely challenging circumstances and have requested program monitoring with board involvement to strengthen their policy commitment and further catalyze donor support.
