The International Monetary Fund agreed Thursday to lend Ukraine $17.5 billion to help prop up its deeply unstable economy.

The New York Times reports:

The new plan replaces a $17 billion emergency bailout that was extended last year after mass street protests in Ukraine ousted the country’s president, Viktor F. Yanukovych; Russia annexed Crimea; and a violent separatist uprising began in the east of the country. That uprising has now stretched into a nearly yearlong battle that has devastated Ukraine’s economy.

In addition to the heavy costs of the continuing military operation and the displacement of more than one million people from the east, Ukraine has had to grapple with a collapse in the value of its currency, the hryvnia, and spiking inflation. Trade with Russia, long Ukraine’s largest partner, has plummeted, paralyzing many industries. Foreign investment has dried up amid the turmoil.

… The European Union late last month agreed to provide $2 billion in loans to Ukraine, while the United States has pledged $2 billion in loan guarantees, on the condition that the Ukrainian government remain committed to an ambitious overhaul program that many officials in Kiev acknowledge has been slow to take shape.

The announcement came as leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine agreed on cease-fire terms aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Read more here.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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