G7 pledges $20bn to prop up Ukraine budget

G7 pledges $20bn to prop up Ukraine budget

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading economies pledged to deliver almost $20bn of budget aid to Ukraine as the country struggles to meet its spending needs in the face of Russia’s invasion.

“Ukraine’s liquidity is secured for the foreseeable future,” German finance minister Christian Lindner told reporters after hosting his G7 counterparts at a meeting in the west German town of Königswinter.

The meeting also focused on the danger posed to the global economy by rising inflation, which is driving up commodity, energy and food prices, and which Lindner said had played a “very significant” role in the ministers’ deliberations.

He urged central banks to deal with the problem. “The central banks are very, very, very independent, but they have a very, very, very great responsibility in these times,” he said.

Joachim Nagel, head of the Bundesbank, who took part in the meeting along with other G7 central bank chiefs, said there was an inflation risk from what he called “three Ds” — deglobalisation, where countries sever trading ties with each other decarbonisation, where economies adopt green policies to reduce their output of CO₂ and demography.

The G7 also called for rapid development of the regulation of financial assets based on crypto technologies,