Ukraine requests fresh IMF bailout as foreign ministers call for ceasefire

Ukraine has asked the International Monetary Fund for a new and broader rescue package, and will seek to renegotiate its debt with bond holders, officials said on Wednesday as the war-torn country fights to save its reeling economy. IMF chief Christine Lagarde met Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos and said Ukraine requested that the Washington-based IMF deepen its relationship with Kiev. The IMF, which last year granted Kiev $17 billion in financial aid over two years as part of a broader $27 billion global rescue package, has expressed fears that the former Soviet country may need an additional $15 billion in immediate aid.

President Poroshenko informed me today that the Ukrainian authorities have requested a multi-year arrangement with the Fund… to replace the existing… arrangement. We will consult with the IMF Executive Board on the authorities’ request.

IMF statement

The meeting took place soon after Poroshenko told an audience of the world’s financial elite in Davos that 9,000 Russian troops were backing Ukrainian separatist fighters. Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France ended their latest Berlin crisis meeting Wednesday with a joint call to cease hostilities in Ukraine but no breakthrough agreement to stop the bloodshed.