The Group of Seven, which includes seven of the most advanced economies in the world, announced on Friday an agreement to grant a loan of “about $50 billion” to Ukraine, to be paid with interest on Russian assets frozen within the framework of Western sanctions.
These countries indicated in a final statement issued on Friday that “the servicing and repayment of these loans will be guaranteed by future exceptional income flows from the freezing of Russian sovereign assets, in accordance with the legal systems of the G7 countries and international law.”
“Our goal is to begin disbursing funds by the end of the year,” as specified in this joint announcement.
The finance ministers of the countries of this group meet in Washington on the occasion of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
G7 leaders agreed in June to use interest generated from frozen Russian assets in their jurisdictions to guarantee a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.
The practical arrangements and technical details, which were reached on Friday by Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, which make up this group, remained to be worked out.
This loan will be secured by future interest generated by Russian assets amounting to about 300 billion euros, which generate up to three billion euros in revenue annually, a large part of which is frozen in Belgium with the Euroclear clearing house.
On Tuesday, the United States had already announced its intention to contribute $20 billion to the loan provided to Ukraine, indicating that this loan would be completed by the end of the year.
The European Union, which froze about $235 billion in Russian central bank funds, which represents the vast majority of Russian assets frozen around the world, for its part indicated that it would contribute up to “about 18 billion euros.” ($19.4 billion).
The head of the 27th bloc, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a statement: “Russia must end its illegal war of aggression and pay for the damage it has caused.” “We stand in strong solidarity with Ukraine's struggle for freedom.”
