The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Janet Yellenexpressed this Friday his “disappointment” with his European counterparts because the European Comission did not join the group creditors who agreed to suspend the paid of the debt of Ukraine for two years.
“I would honestly say that I am disappointed that the European Comission has not joined the group of creditors to offer relief of debt service to Ukraine“, said the secretary of economy and finance of Joe Biden in Washington during the fall meetings of the FMI and the World Bank.
“Ukraine, as you know, is facing a huge financing gap and needs our full support,” Yelen told finance ministers and EU commissioners.
A group of international creditors of Ukraine, consisting of Canada, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, signed a memorandum of understanding on September 14, which provides for a postponement of Ukraine’s debt payment following a request from kyiv .
“The commission is a multilateral body and to make such a decision we must have the consensus of all member states,” the European Commission’s commissioner for economic affairs reacted on Friday, Paolo Gentiloniduring a conference following that of the American secretary.
“That’s why we have a different path and a different handling of the issue,” he added.
The FMI warned at these meetings that Ukraine is facing a budget deficit that might reach $4 billion a month in 2023.
Yellen received on Tuesday the Minister of Finance of Ukraine, Sergiy Marchenko, at the Treasury Department. “We will continue to support them,” promised the US chief to her interlocutor.
(With information from AFP)
