Redoubling financial backing for Ukraine in its war with Russia is the “single best” way to aid the global economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday.
She added boosting emerging economies and tackling debt distress also have their role to play alongside sending billions in taxpayer dollars to Kyiv.
AFP reports Yellen used the sidelines of a G20 finance ministers’ summit in India to reveal she would “push back” on criticism there was a tradeoff between aid to Ukraine and developing nations.
“Ending this war is first and foremost a moral imperative,” she told reporters in Gandhinagar. “But it’s also the single best thing we can do for the global economy.”
Her comments on Ukraine aid came one week after former Vice President Mike Pence said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday that defending Ukraine is in the best interest of the U.S., even though it is not “our war.”
Defending Ukraine is in the best interest of the U.S., even though it is not “our war,” former Vice President @Mike_Pence said. https://t.co/VKB48HmmsF
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 9, 2023
Since the war began, the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress have directed more than $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which includes humanitarian, financial, and military support, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research institute.
Yellen also pointed to efforts to tackle debt distress faced by struggling economies, bank reform and a global tax deal, and warned it was “premature” to talk of lifting tariffs on China, the AFP report continued.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both global breadbaskets that together exported almost a quarter of the world’s wheat supply, triggered shockwaves in economies worldwide by sending prices for food and fuel soaring.
Economic uncertainty around wheat and associated supply chain issues continue to shake the global economy as the Ukraine-Russia confrontation shows no sign of ending.
The Pentagon is set to announce another military aid package for Ukraine valued at more than $2 billion, according to a report. https://t.co/I9N28Toczp
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 9, 2023
Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, speaking after a G7 meeting of ministers, “reconfirmed the G7’s unshakeable support” for Kyiv.
“We confirmed that Russia-owned assets that are under the G7’s supervision would not be transferred until Russia pays damages to Ukraine,” Suzuki said, adding Moscow should also “pay long-term reconstruction costs.”
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