Ukraine’s bond restructuring talks are in high gear, and, as ever, Russia is the trouble du jour. Not only is it threatening to hold out in the bond deal and take Ukraine to arbitration, Russia also seems poised to block International Monetary Fund (IMF) disbursements to Ukraine using an arcane Fund policy on “lending into arrears.” My hunch is that this last risk is overblown, and in any event should not drive IMF policy or Ukraine’s restructuring strategy.
RealTime post by Anna Gelpern. …read more