U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen talks to reporters during a news conference within the Money Room on the Treasury Department on April 21, 2022 in Washington, DC.
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U.S. Treasury officials plan to press ahead at this week’s IMF meetings with a cap on the worth of Russian oil, despite Wednesday’s decision by OPEC+ to chop oil production that is already driven gas prices higher.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo will discuss the cap with other world finance ministers on the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank that run Monday through Sunday in Washington, D.C.
OPEC+, the international governing organization of oil exporting countries which counts Russia amongst its expanded membership, announced an expected output cut of two million barrels per day last week, a move the Biden administration reportedly tried to dam amid rising fuel costs.
However the cutback has no bearing on the G-7’s technique to deny Russia a considerable income source to proceed funding its war in Ukraine by capping the worth of the country’s oil, a senior Treasury official told reporters Monday.
“We have been working on the worth cap for plenty of months. We’re continuing to maneuver forward with our coalition within the design and finalization of that and that will have been happening in any case,” the official said.
G-7 finance ministers announced the price cap last month.
Higher gas prices from the OPEC+ decision shall be “felt particularly by low- and middle-income countries, that are already bearing the brunt of the rise in global energy prices,” the official said.
Adeyemo will is scheduled on Friday to temporary member countries on the impact their sanctions have had on Russia’s military supply chains. The Deputy Treasury Secretary will even seek the advice of with senior officials from over 20 participating countries, including Canada, the U.K. and the E.U., on how one can redouble those efforts, in keeping with senior Treasury officials.
Yellen plans to call on the coalition to further restrict Russian President Vladimir Putin’s access to capital and military equipment needed to proceed the war in Ukraine.
After Russia launched coordinated missile strikes across Ukraine Monday, India and China, which have avoided outright condemning Russia’s invasion, called for a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Each country has sought to distance itself from Putin whilst they proceed to support Russia by buying its oil.
