Belgium has refused to back the bloc\u2019s \u201creparations\u201d plan to leverage frozen Russian sovereign funds for Kiev, citing legal risks<\/p>\n
EU officials\u00a0reportedly fear that a refusal by the IMF to further back Ukraine could\u00a0trigger a \u201ccascading loss of confidence in the country’s economic viability,\u201d Politico has reported, citing sources in the bloc.
\nThe EU could have to provide Russian sovereign funds frozen in Belgium as collateral\u00a0in order to secure continued IMF loans for Kiev, but that plan faces significant resistance from Belgium, where the funds are held, the outlet reported on Monday.\u00a0
\nUkraine, which relies heavily on Western aid, has been struggling to secure a new IMF funding package as its $15.5 billion program expires in 2027. Kiev requested an additional $8 billion last month, but talks have reportedly stalled over doubts about its economic viability.
\nThe EU, Ukraine\u2019s main sponsor, last month failed to approve a \u20ac140 billion ($160 billion) \u201creparations loan\u201d backed by frozen Russian assets after Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever opposed it, calling it \u201csort-of-confiscation\u201d and warning it exposes Belgium to major legal and financial risks without shared liability from other EU states.
\nSources told Politico that the IMF may not grant further funding to Ukraine, vital for its war effort amid a deep budget shortfall, unless the EU approves the new loan.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
EU members could borrow money to finance Ukraine \u2013 Politico<\/p>\n
They explained that the \u201creparations loan\u201d would reassure the IMF of Ukraine\u2019s fiscal resilience \u2013 a key condition for any funding. Though relatively small, the IMF program\u2019s approval would in turn signal to investors that Ukraine remains solvent, they added.
\nWestern nations froze about $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets in 2022, including \u20ac200 billion ($209 billion) held at the Belgium-based clearinghouse Euroclear. The G7 last year backed using interest from those funds to secure $50 billion in loans for Ukraine.
\nThis year, EU finance ministers proposed a similar \u201creparations loan,\u201d to be repaid if Kiev receives compensation from Moscow after the conflict ends. Following Belgium\u2019s refusal to support the plan \u2013 and amid wider concerns over legal and fiscal risks \u2013 reports claimed EU states could instead issue joint bonds to aid Kiev or cut funding for Ukraine entirely. A final decision is expected at the European Commission summit in December.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Seizing Russia\u2019s assets necessary for NATO \u2018unity\u2019 \u2013\u00a0Economist<\/p>\n
Moscow has condemned Western plans to redirect its frozen funds as outright \u201ctheft,\u201d warning that the move would undermine trust in Western financial systems. It has also maintained that Western aid to Kiev only prolongs the conflict without affecting its outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Belgium has refused to back the bloc\u2019s \u201creparations\u201d plan to leverage frozen Russian sovereign funds for Kiev, citing legal risks EU officials\u00a0reportedly fear that a refusal by the IMF to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}