This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The United States is set to announce new sanctions as early as next week aimed at curbing Russia’s Ukraine war efforts, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on October 22.
The sanctions will target secondary entities in countries that are supplying Russia with critical items used by its military, Yellen told world financial leaders gathered in Washington for annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
“We will unveil strong new sanctions targeting those facilitating the Kremlin’s war machine, including intermediaries in third countries that are supplying Russia with critical inputs for its military,” she said in opening remarks to a press conference.
The IMF and World Bank meetings mark the last major international finance gathering to be held during President Joe Biden’s administration and come as the state of the economy and inflation are top concerns for American voters.
The presidential election between the Republican party nominee, former President Donald Trump, and Democratic party nominee Vice President Kamala Harris is slated to be decided on November 5, with the outcome expected to have an enormous impact on global finance and the world’s economy.
Yellen touched on the use of the proceeds from frozen Russian sovereign assets to provide loans for Ukraine. As she spoke the European Parliament approved a loan of up to 35 billion euros ($38 billion) for Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction that will be repaid using future revenues from Russian central bank assets frozen abroad.
Yellen referred to the overall $50 billion loan package being negotiated by the Group of Seven and EU allies, saying the United States expects to be able to contribute $20 billion.
The U.S. Treasury Department is “working tirelessly to unlock the economic value of frozen Russian sovereign assets to aid Ukraine,” Yellen said.
Earlier on October 22, Britain announced its readiness to provide Ukraine with a loan of 2.26 billion pounds sterling ($2.93 billion), which also would be repaid from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.
On the question of the U.S. dollar remaining the main currency used in international trading, Yellen said she sees no other currency as a candidate to replace it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly criticized the dominance of the U.S. dollar in international transactions and had discussed seeking a replacement for it.
Russia is currently hosting a BRICS summit bringing together top leaders of the original five members — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa — and several others, including new members the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Iran.
Putin said ahead of the summit that one of his aims was to discuss an alternative to the SWIFT network, used to route international payments. Many Russian banks were banned from using SWIFT after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
In comments about the U.S. economy, Yellen appeared to take aim at Trump’s economic approach, including broad tariffs and isolationism. Without mentioning Trump by name, she said the Biden administration had ended a period of international isolationism that “made America and the world worse off.”
Yellen stressed that under the current administration’s policies Washington has “pursued global economic leadership that supports economies around the world and brings significant benefits to the American people and the U.S. economy.”
She noted that U.S. economic growth has been “almost twice as fast as most other advanced economies this year and last, even as inflation came down sooner.”
The IMF released its international outlook on the global economy on October 22, upgrading its economic outlook for the United States this year while lowering its expectations for growth in Europe and China.
The IMF expects the U.S. economy to expand 2.8 percent this year, down slightly from 2.9 percent in 2023. Growth in the United States has been led by strong consumer spending, fueled by healthy gains in inflation-adjusted wages.
