The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the disbursement of $1.3 billion to Ukraine under the new food shock window of the Rapid Financing Instrument.

"More than seven months after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the humanitarian and economic toll remains massive, resulting in large and urgent fiscal and external financing needs," the IMF said in a statement posted on its website on Saturday night.

The scale and intensity of Russia's war against Ukraine that started more than seven months ago have caused tremendous human suffering and economic pain. Amid massive population displacement and destruction of housing and key infrastructure, real GDP of Ukraine is projected to contract by 35% in 2022 relative to 2021 and financing needs remain very large, the IMF said.

"This disbursement under the RFI (equivalent to 50% of Ukraine's quota in the IMF) will help meet urgent balance of payment needs, including due to a large cereal export shortfall, while playing a catalytic role for further financial support from Ukraine's creditors and donors," it said.

The Ukrainian authorities deserve considerable credit for having maintained an important degree of macro-financial stability in these extremely challenging circumstances and have requested program monitoring with board involvement to strengthen their policy commitment and further catalyze donor support, the IMF said.