Ukraine needs $42 billion of funding to sustain the remarkable progress they have made, IMF says
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, says Ukraine needs $42 billion in funding this year to “sustain the remarkable progress they have made.”
“Let me state it as clearly as possible: Ukraine earned the support of the international community with very prudent actions domestically,” she told CNBC, commending Kyiv’s high domestic tax receipts, sharp reduction in inflation and resilient economic growth.
– Elliot Smith
IMF chief says Russian economy is in for very tough times
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told CNBC on Sunday that the Russian economy is in for “very tough times,” despite positive growth numbers.
Russia’s GDP rebounded by 3.6% in 2023, according to annual data published last week. This was driven by soaring military spending that fueled spikes in state-funded arms and ammunition production, and economists have noted that other issues are preventing improvements in living standards for ordinary Russians.
“If you look at Russia today, production goes up — military — consumption goes down, and that is pretty much what the Soviet Union used to look like: high level of production, low level of consumption,” Georgieva told CNBC’s Dan Murphy at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
“I actually think that the Russian economy is [in] for very tough times because of the outflow of people and because of the reduced access to technology that comes with the sanctions, so although this number looks like a good number, there is a bigger story behind and it is not a very good story.”
– Elliot Smith
Ukraine says it destroyed 14 of 17 Russian drones and one cruise missile
Ukraine’s Air Force said Monday that its defense systems shot down 14 out of 17 drones launched by Russia overnight and one Kh-59 cruise missile.
The Air Force said on Telegram that Russia had also launched long-range S-300 surface-to-air missiles, according to a Google translation, but…
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