Joint briefing of Minister of Finance of Ukraine and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada

Today, on April 22, Sergii Marchenko and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance of Canada Chrystia Freeland held a joint briefing in Washington.

The parties talked about the results of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings. The briefing speakers noted that these days have been productive - a lot of meetings were held and important agreements were reached.

Sergii Marchenko thanked the Government of Canada and personally Chrystia Freeland for the constant support of Ukraine.

"The IMF has recently created an administrated account to transfer funds from donor countries. I am grateful to our friends from Canada for coordinating this initiative and the decision to provide Ukraine with up to CAD 1 billion," said the Minister of Finance of Ukraine.

There has been discussed the debt policy. Sergii Marchenko noted that restructuring and writing off debts are inappropriate.

"We do not need writing off debts and restructuring. We need a financial bridge for the next few months to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of the economy. Ukraine's external debt payments amount to 20% of all debt payments this year and we have no problems with servicing it," commented Sergii Marchenko.

In addition, he added that the government continues to work and timely provide all priority budget expenditures, including social, humanitarian and military needs.

Ukraine's Finance Minister expressed hope that the result of the IMF and World Bank spring meeting will be collective decisions by countries to increase concessional and grant financing to Ukraine. Ukraine cannot afford to increase the debt burden on the state budget, because there are significant expenditures ahead for the reconstruction of the state.

Chrystia Freeland assured that Canada will continue to assist and support the stabilization of the financial system and recovery from Russia's war of aggression.

"The war continues on Ukrainian territory, but this is a battle for democracy, for the principles of international law, for all of us. Helping with sanctions, weapons and additional funding is the responsibility of the world," said Canada's Finance Minister.

According to her, Russia as an aggressor country can't be involved in global economic issues. That's why Chrystia Freeland, along with Sergii Marchenko and other financial leaders, left the room at the G20 session "Global Economy and Risks" in Washington on April 20, during the speech of the Minister of Finance of Russia.