Americans advise Ukraine to prepare for default
In the near future, Ukraine, the international community and its creditors must reach an agreement on what to do with the country's debt.
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Larry Summers, former Secretary of the US Treasury and now a professor at Harvard University, writes about this in an article for The Financial Times .
“In the near future, Ukraine, the international community and its creditors must reach an agreement on what to do with the country’s debt. How exactly this issue is resolved will indicate how willing the international community really is to help Ukraine and counter Russian aggression,” writes Summers.
"If necessary, Ukraine must be prepared to default and not fulfill its obligations, and the international community must clearly state that it will continue to support Kyiv. In such a context, creditors will have no choice but to accept the economic reality of the situation," the former US Treasury Secretary concluded.
As you know, Ukraine must agree on debt restructuring for $23 billion by June. The debt operation is necessary to obtain new tranches of the IMF loan program of $17,5 billion.
Finance Minister Natalya Yaresko said that Ukraine’s creditors are delaying the resolution of the issue of restructuring Ukraine’s external debt. According to Jaresko, last week she “offered to discuss the situation directly with one prominent member of the committee in order to speed up and focus the negotiations, but was told that he was not available to talk with her.”
Americans advise Ukraine to prepare for default.