Lavrov Slams Global Financial Institutions

(MENAFN) At the 17th BRICS summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov strongly criticized the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for what he labeled as a heavily skewed distribution of financial assistance.

Lavrov highlighted statistics indicating that Ukraine has received more financial aid in recent years than the entire continent of Africa, a disparity he described as deeply troubling.

Lavrov asserted that the present configuration of international financial bodies—established through the Bretton Woods framework—unduly favors Western-oriented nations while marginalizing other developing regions.

According to him, this bias is most apparent in the case of Ukraine.

“This has been most clearly demonstrated in the case of Ukraine,” he stated, emphasizing that the total aid sent to Kiev surpasses the combined IMF and World Bank allocations to African nations over the last two years.

Describing the situation as a “disgraceful statistic,” Lavrov argued that such an imbalance damages the legitimacy of both financial institutions.

He revealed that the World Bank has pledged USD54 billion to Ukraine since early 2022, a sum twice the size of the total annual financial support extended to all African nations by the Bretton Woods system.

Lavrov also referenced the IMF’s 2023 decision to approve a USD15.6 billion loan to Ukraine, noting it amounts to 577 percent of the country’s quota.

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