Belgium proposes leveraging frozen Russian assets' profits with bonds

22/3/2024 18:56

        Belgium has suggested using bonds backed by the profits generated by frozen Russian assets to maximise their impact, its prime minister said on Friday, but conceded it may be too early for the EU to agree to such financial engineering.
        
        EU leaders on Thursday agreed to work on a plan that could allow them to use the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine within a few months, by working on a proposal that would see the profits channelled to an EU-run fund to buy arms.
        
        Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg citing unnamed sources, Washington has proposed to G7 allies to create a special purpose vehicle to issue at least $50 billion of bonds backed by the profits of the frozen assets, an idea Germany is not keen on.
        
        Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo - whose country holds the rotating EU presidency - has also made a proposal to leverage the money on markets, he told reporters as he arrived at the second day of the summit of EU leaders in Brussels.