The IMF’s decision to distribute $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights this summer is undermining arguments for free market changes in countries like Ukraine,

Timothy Ash argues in an essay. He writes from London: “The hope was the looming debt service hump for Ukraine in Q3, when $3bn in external debt falls due, would concentrate minds in the Zelenskiy administration. But likely with $2.8bn in SDR allocations due in September now, I think there will be zero incentive on the part of the administration to do anything to meet the conditionality in the SBA [Stand-by Arrangement]. This SBA is dead now in my mind, as it expires at year end.”