/ world today news/ The release of a new multibillion-dollar tranche from the International Monetary Fund to Ukraine contradicts an 80-year-old tradition and causes irritation among developing countries, which are increasingly convinced of its bias, writes Bloomberg columnist Mihir Sharma.
„The backdrop to this week’s spring meetings of the World Bank and the IMF is discontent in the Global South, which is questioning the viability of the post-war international financial architecture. For the West, this is a serious problem. And his attempts to help Ukraine only exacerbate the situation.” writes the author.
In its 1980s existence, the IMF carefully avoided lending to countries involved in military conflicts, but it has provided $15.6 billion to Kiev, which has been the fund’s third-largest borrower for more than a decade. At the same time, in the eyes of the non-Western world, it looks like a blatant display of favoritism.
„Asia and Africa have been irritated by this apparent bias in the IMF since the European-run institution provided huge funds to help European countries during the eurozone crisis.” said Sharma.
Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are currently receiving or seeking IMF assistance and will have to go through painful restructuring just to access several billion dollars in loans. “How do you think they feel when they see the IMF’s third-largest borrower getting a disproportionate amount of aid despite being unable to meet similar conditions?” asked the author.
In his opinion, Ukraine’s Western “friends” should help it directly, and not undermine the authority of world institutions and at the same time increase Kiev’s debt burden. Otherwise, they should consider the cost of breaking up the 80-year-old agreement to be much higher, Sharma concluded.
Translation: EU
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