Ngaire Woods Discusses the Likelihood of an IMF Deal for Ukraine

As political turmoil continues to unfold in Ukraine, the country is also facing an economic disaster: the country is urgently in need of financing to help pay for government salaries, pensions, and maturing bonds.

GEG Director Ngaire Woods appeared on the BBC World Services’ World Business Report on 3 March to discuss Ukraine’s financial upheaval and the possibility of an IMF deal for the country. Ukraine officially requested support from the IMF on 27 February; as Professor Woods notes in the interview, if the country doesn’t get a deal soon it will default.

Professor Woods argues that the IMF is likely to quickly put together a package for Ukraine, for political reasons as much as economic. “Whenever the major shareholders’ geopolitical interests are at stake, the IMF is under great pressure to ease its terms – it has done it many times before,” she said. “I think in the current context in the Ukraine there is going to be an urgency just to get a package together.”

The interview can be heard in its entirety here, at the 3.00 mark on BBC iPlayer.