Washington - The International Monetary Fund's executive board on Thursday approved emergency loans for Ukraine and Hungary, both of which have found themselves in severe financial jeopardy in amid a global credit crisis.

The IMF's 24-member board backed a 15.7-billion-dollar loan for Hungary and 16.4 billion dollars for Ukraine. Both are two-year deals, and each country will get access to about one fifth of the loans immediately.

The arrangements are part of a series of loans the IMF has agreed with governments that had solid fiscal records in the recent past but are reeling from a global financial system on the verge of collapse.

Ukraine has struggled with the problems in its banking system and the falling price of steel, its principle export. President Viktor Yushchenko last week said Ukraine might default on billions of dollars of bonds issued on international markets, without new IMF help.

Hungary has been harder hit by the credit crisis than any other Eastern European economy. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany this week proposed a 5-billion-dollar rescue plan for the country's economy.