Yellen urges 'more ambitious' G7 plans for Russian assets

FE Team | Published: May 23, 2024 23:43:59

ROME, May 23 (Reuters): US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday urged G7 ministers meeting in Italy to work on "more ambitious options" to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.
The ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven world powers are meeting in Stresa, on the shores of northern Italy's Lake Maggiore, to prepare for a summit of G7 heads of state next month in Puglia.
Separately, she said they would also discuss what she considers to be "over-capacity" of key green technologies such as electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels.
Top of the agenda is a plan to finance crucial aid to Ukraine using the interest generated by the 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of Russian central bank assets frozen by the G7 and Europe.
The European Union earlier this month approved using the profits from the assets it froze to arm Ukraine, hoping to raise up to three billion euros ($3.3 billion) a year.
In a press conference ahead of the Stresa meeting, Yellen welcomed the plan but added that "we must also continue our collective work on more ambitious options, considering all relevant risks and acting together."
She said she wanted "concrete options" to present to G7 leaders meeting from June 13-15.
"Failure to take additional action is not an option -- not for Ukraine's future and not for the stability of our own economies and the security of our peoples," she said.
The United States has proposed granting Ukraine -- which has been fighting a Russian invasion for more than two years -- up to $50 billion in loans secured by interest on the assets.
But the details have not been finalised, including whether the debt would be issued by the US alone or G7 countries as a whole.
"We're looking for general agreement on the concept" in Stresa, with the details hammered out in the coming weeks, Yellen said.
She confirmed that "50 billion is a number that's been mentioned as a possible number that could be achieved by this. But there hasn't been a decision on an amount".