World
Russia Seeks Indivisible Working Relationship With IMF
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
After several years of mounting fierce criticisms over the operations and performance of the International Monetary Fund [IMF] and consistently advocating for its structural reforms, Russia has reversed its position to get back into and strengthen its position with this multilateral financial organization. With the current geopolitical shift which is reshaping the world’s economic architecture, Russia has been [re]prioritising its association by a fresh announcement over an appointment of a representative with the IMF.
In February 2024, the International Monetary Fund [IMF] endorsed Russia’s macroeconomic programmes, further describing them as admirable steps, and primarily with pivotal development initiatives which is integral to its broader strategy for transforming an ambitious modern economy. In fact, IMF director Kristalina Georgieva upgraded the forecast for Russia’s growth. Reports have also indicated that Russia was on the right path to achieve more and maintain its 4th position in the rankings. The IMF doubled its forecast for Russian growth in 2024, boosting its prediction from 1.1% to 2.6% in January. And that marks the biggest jump for the former Soviet republic, Russia.
On the other hand, Russian economic conditions are starting to look more and more like the country’s 20th-century predecessor, where high production levels clashed with weak demand. “That is pretty much what the Soviet Union used to look like,” Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova, a Bulgarian economist serving as the 12th managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2019, said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. “High level of production, low level of consumption. I think that the Russian economy is [in] for very tough times, because of the outflow of people and because of the reduced access to technology that comes with the sanctions.”
Recognizing the importance of multinationals, in late September 2024, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, by signing an executive order, instructed Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who is International Monetary Fund Governor for the Russian Federation, to nominate Ksenia Yudaeva for election as Russia’s Executive Director at the IMF. Without a doubt, the sanctioned former central banker will now become Russia’s IMF representative.
Local Russian media reported that Yudaeva, a former Central Bank of Russia’s first deputy governor, could become Russia’s Executive Director at the IMF. It further said Alexei Mozhin had been Russia’s permanent representative at the IMF since the 1990s. Back in 1991, when Yegor Gaidar led the government, he headed a new department for liaison with international financial organizations, and he became Russia’s Executive Director at the IMF in 1996. Data shows that Russia joined the IMF on June 1, 1992.
Mozhin has served as the Dean of the IMF Executive Board since 2014 as the Fund’s oldest active member. This status carries with it certain functions, for example, the Dean makes announcements on behalf of the board on the selection and appointment of the IMF Managing Director. The IMF Board of Governors suspended the role of Dean in March 2022, in connection with the events in Ukraine.
In a related development in establishing a working relationship between Russia and the IMF, the September 2024 media briefing of the IMF report indicated that Article IV Consultations with Russia would resume in line with the obligations and would hold bilateral discussions with the Russian authorities. This would include meeting with some different stakeholders to discuss the country’s economic developments, prospects, and policies.
During the upcoming visit to Russia, there are arrangements to meet with Ksenia Yudaeva, the next Executive Director from Russia in the IMF. “Actually, in the case of Russia, since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the economic situation has been exceptionally unsettled, which has made it difficult to anchor Article IV Consultations, especially thinking about the outlook and policy frameworks for both the near- and the medium-term. Now that the economic situation is more settled, Article IV Consultations with Russia are resuming, in line with the obligations of both the Fund and the member country,” Julie Kozack, Director of the Communications Department, IMF, told the media briefing on September 12, 2024.
Quite a bit in the past time, Russia has made an irreversible decision to suspend its membership and future participation in a number of multinational organizations and institutions, and highly disparaging them instead of mutually cooperating on needed reforms within the context of the emerging multipolar system. With the dominance of the United States and its concept of democracy, Russia has also spearheaded the formation of anti-western antagonistic tendencies and trends across the world. The world is largely now drawn into either creating an interactive, fairer multipolar world or the group against Western hegemony.
Reports monitored by this author indicated that Russia has already exited, following the historic fall of the Soviet era, from international organizations and multinational institutions. It has urged many leaders in Latin America, Asia and Africa to vehemently oppose conservative Western-style rules-based order and hegemony. Remarkable, during these past few years, many countries from these regions have increasingly shown diverse interests in joining BRICS+ (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), an informal association with a virtual secretariat, attempting to institutionalize South-South cooperation and taking radical steps entirely working towards improving the situation in the Global South.
BRICS+ established its New Development Bank in 2015, as an alternative to the IMF and the World Bank. Its primary aim is to compete with these multinational financial institutions, offer interest-free loans and invest heavily in developing countries. At the 6th BRICS summit in July 2014, the BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) announced the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) with an initial size of $100 billion, a framework to provide liquidity through currency swaps in response to actual or potential short-term balance-of-payments pressures. It has yet to measure or assess the visible impact it has made since its establishment in 2015.
The IMF works to stabilize and foster the economies of its member countries by its use of the fund, as well as other activities such as gathering and analyzing economic statistics and surveillance of its members’ economies. The recurrent challenge has been to promote and implement a policy that reduces the frequency of crises among emerging market countries, especially middle-income countries which are vulnerable to massive capital outflows. It supported Russia during the 1998 Russian financial crisis, from spreading and threatening the entire global financial and currency system. According to official reports, four emerging market countries (Brazil, China, India, and Russia) are among the ten largest members of the IMF. Other top 10 members are the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the US-China tariff war could reduce trade in goods between the two economic giants by 80 per cent and hurt the rest of the world economy.
President Donald Trump raised tariffs on China to 125 per cent on Wednesday as the world’s two largest economies fought over retaliatory levies.
The American President earlier ramped up duties on Chinese goods to 104 per cent, only to hike them further when China retaliated by raising tariffs on US imports to 84 per cent.
In a social media post announcing the moves, President Trump said China had been singled out for special treatment because of “the lack of respect that China has shown to the world’s markets.”
In her reaction to the development, the WTO DG said in a statement that, “The escalating trade tensions between the United States and China pose a significant risk of a sharp contraction in bilateral trade. Our preliminary projections suggest that merchandise trade between these two economies could decrease by as much as 80 per cent.”
She said the United States and China account for three per cent of world trade and warned that the conflict could “severely damage the global economic outlook”.
Even as he slapped further tariffs on China, Mr Trump paused higher tariffs on the rest of the world for 90 days, claiming that dozens of countries reached out for negotiations.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala warned that the world economy risked breaking into two blocs, one centred around the United States and the other China.
“Of particular concern is the potential fragmentation of global trade along geopolitical lines. A division of the global economy into two blocs could lead to a long-term reduction in global real GDP by nearly seven percent,” she said.
She urged all WTO members “to address this challenge through cooperation and dialogue.”
“It is critical for the global community to work together to preserve the openness of the international trading system.”
“WTO members have agency to protect the open, rules-based trading system. The WTO serves as a vital platform for dialogue. Resolving these issues within a cooperative framework is essential,” she added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the continent’s top infrastructure solutions provider, has announced its strongest financial performance to date, with total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024 surpassing $ 1 billion for the first time in its history.
This record performance marks a significant milestone in AFC’s mission to close Africa’s infrastructure gap through scalable, de-risked investments that attract global capital and deliver tangible development outcomes.
The corporation posted a 22.8 per cent increase in total revenue to US$1.1 billion and a 22.3 per cent rise in total comprehensive income to $400 million, up from $327 million in 2023.
AFC’s earnings growth was driven by improved asset yields, prudent cost-of-funds management and sustained traction in advisory mandates.
Further significant financial highlights include net interest income up 42.5 per cent to $ 613.6 million; fee and commission income rose to $109 million, the highest in over five years; operating income climbed 42.7 per cent to $709.7 million; total assets reached a record $14.4 billion, a 16.7 per cent year-on-year increase; liquidity coverage ratio strengthened to 194 per cent, providing over 34 months of cover; and cost-to-income ratio improved to 17.3 per cent from 19.6 per cent in 2023.
According to a statement, AFC said throughout 2024 it continued to scale its impact by mobilising capital for landmark projects across energy, transport, and natural resources.
These included the Lobito Corridor – a cross-border railway development spanning Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Zambia. AFC led the initiative to secure a concession agreement within one year of the initial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), an unprecedented achievement for a project of its scale. In the DRC, AFC also invested $150 million in the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex, Africa’s largest copper producer and one of the most sustainable globally, thanks to its high-grade ore and renewable-powered smelter.
Other milestones transactions included financing support for the commissioning of the Dangote Refinery, the largest in Africa, and continued progress on AFC-backed Infinity Power Holding’s 10 GW clean energy ambition, with power purchase agreements secured in Egypt and South Africa.
AFC also invested in the 15GW Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project, providing $14.1 million to support early-stage development of a transcontinental renewable energy pipeline between North Africa and Europe.
AFC strengthened its capital base and expanded its investor network through several landmark funding initiatives. These included a $ 1.16 billion syndicated loan – the largest in its history, a $500 million perpetual hybrid bond issue, and the successful execution of Nigeria’s first-ever domestic dollar bond, which raised $900 million at 180 per cent oversubscription.
AFC also returned to the Islamic finance market after eight years, closing a $400 million Shariah-compliant facility.
The year also saw strong momentum in equity mobilisation, with $181.8 million in new capital raised from ten institutional investors. These included Turk Eximbank – AFC’s first non-African sovereign shareholder – the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), and several major pension funds spanning Cameroon, Seychelles, Mauritius, and South Africa. Ratings agencies affirmed AFC’s robust credit profile, with AAA ratings from S&P Global (China) and China Chengxin International, and a stable A3 Outlook from Moody’s.
Speaking on the result, Ms Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC said, “These results send a clear message that strategic investment in African infrastructure creates lasting value for both beneficiaries and investors.”
“In 2024, we exceeded the billion-dollar revenue mark, delivered game-changing projects, and reinforced our financial resilience—demonstrating the scalability of our unique model that blends purpose with performance to accelerate Africa’s economic transformation,” she added.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Financial Inclusion Vehicle (FIVE) of AfricInvest has received the injection of €26 million from Swedfund to boost access to financial services in Africa.
About a fifth of the African population has access to formal banking services. Limited access to finance restricts entrepreneurship, job creation, and the ability to absorb economic shocks.
Swedfund’s investment addresses this gap by supporting financial institutions that are expanding outreach and developing inclusive financial products, especially through new technology and digital solutions, particularly with AfricInvest’s FIVE, a platform designed to support financial institutions across Africa.
The investment aims to increase access to financial services for underserved individuals and small businesses, with a focus on digital innovation, economic empowerment and inclusion.
Through FIVE, Swedfund will strengthen the capital base of select financial institutions across Africa, enabling them to grow and reach more clients.
The investment also supports FIVE’s commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, creating positive change within its portfolio companies and communities.
By investing in a mix of traditional and digital-first financial service providers, including banks, insurers, and fintechs, Swedfund aims to catalyse more inclusive financial ecosystems, driving job creation and economic growth across the continent.
A Senior Investment Manager at Swedfund, Mr Jakob Larsson, while commenting on the fresh injection, said, “Our investment in FIVE further strengthens our engagement to improve access to banking and other financial services in underserved communities.
“This in turn spurs job creation and growth. We are also able to strengthen financial institutions and the development of innovative financial services.”
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