Or... How to get a huge, complicated IMF deal done in 3 weeks... Be a pawn in Babylon's Chess game
Mawnin Portia
I.M.F. Prepares $18 Billion in Loans for Ukraine
By STEVEN ERLANGER and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
MARCH 27, 2014
LONDON — After three weeks of urgent negotiations with the interim government of Ukraine and in an atmosphere of great power competition, the International Monetary Fund announced on Thursday an agreement to provide up to $18 billion in loans over two years to prevent the country’s default.
The agreement, announced in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, will hinge on the country taking steps to let the value of its currency float downward, to cut corruption and red tape, and, crucially, to reduce huge state subsidies for the consumption of natural gas. The energy subsidies alone represent roughly 8 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product, and Russia has said that it intends to raise on April 1 the price of natural gas to Ukraine, which is largely dependent on Russian supplies and which already owes the Russian energy company Gazprom well over $1 billion.
Mawnin Portia
I.M.F. Prepares $18 Billion in Loans for Ukraine
By STEVEN ERLANGER and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
MARCH 27, 2014
LONDON — After three weeks of urgent negotiations with the interim government of Ukraine and in an atmosphere of great power competition, the International Monetary Fund announced on Thursday an agreement to provide up to $18 billion in loans over two years to prevent the country’s default.
The agreement, announced in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, will hinge on the country taking steps to let the value of its currency float downward, to cut corruption and red tape, and, crucially, to reduce huge state subsidies for the consumption of natural gas. The energy subsidies alone represent roughly 8 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product, and Russia has said that it intends to raise on April 1 the price of natural gas to Ukraine, which is largely dependent on Russian supplies and which already owes the Russian energy company Gazprom well over $1 billion.
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