Yellen: let's use the $300bn of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine
2' min read
2' min read
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen offered maximum public support to Ukraine, during her press conference from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the G20 meeting of economy and finance ministers and central bankers is scheduled, stating that "it is necessary and urgent" to find a way with the allies to unlock Russian assets frozen after the invasion, worth some USD 285 billion, and use them to "support Ukrainian resilience and reconstruction in the long run".
"I believe there are legal, economic and moral grounds to proceed. It would be,' he said, 'a fundamental response to Russia's unprecedented threat to global stability. It would make it clear to Russia that it cannot win by prolonging the war and would incentivise it to come to the table to negotiate a just peace with Ukraine'. More than two-thirds of frozen Russian assets are in the European Union.
Appeal to Congress to unblock aid
"Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategy," Yellen noted, "is to hope that he can simply wait for Ukraine and its allies. We need to show him that he is wrong and that we will collectively stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,' Yellen said.
The issue is crucial since US President Joe Biden is at loggerheads with the leader of the Republican-led US House of Representatives over the approval of some $61 billion in additional aid to Ukraine. Yellen again called on Congress to act.
Better-than-expected global economy
Yellen then turned to the global economy. "Over the past year, global growth has been resilient and stronger than expected," she noted. As for the US economy, "growth was 3.1 per cent and exceeded expectations. Inflation is falling and is expected to continue to fall this year in about 80 per cent of the world's economies. Going forward, we remain aware of the risks to the global outlook and continue to monitor. But the economy remains resilient.
