On July 18, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko met with World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Antonella Bassani.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova and Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa from the Ukrainian side. On behalf of the World Bank, Regional Director for Eastern Europe Arup Banerji and Head of the World Bank Representation in Ukraine Gevorg Sargsyan took part in the meeting.
Sergii Marchenko congratulated Antonella Bassani on the opening of the World Bank Representative Office in Kyiv and her first visit to Ukraine as Vice President. The Minister of Finance emphasized that the World Bank was a crucial partner of Ukraine, supporting the country’s macrofinancial stability and implementing rapid recovery.
“The World Bank was among the first to provide assistance to Ukraine when it was urgently needed. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation, the World Bank has mobilized financial resources from our partners in the amount of $34 billion. More than $22 billion of this support has already been transferred to the state budget of Ukraine. The provided financing includes both the World Bank’s own funds and donor funds received through the Bank’s trust funds. Thanks to the specified financing, the Government of Ukraine is able to continue to maintain macrofinancial stability and ensure priority expenditures of the state budget,” said Sergii Marchenko.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the implementation of joint projects under the WB initiative – Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund (URTF). The projects will be implemented in the process of Ukraine’s recovery, targeting areas such as reconstruction of the transport infrastructure (RELINK Project), the electric power sector (Re-Power Project), the support of the healthcare system (Heal Ukraine Project), the restoration of destroyed homes of citizens as a result of hostilities (HOPE Project), as well as other projects that are currently at the stage of preparation and implementation.
Sergii Marchenko emphasized that quick recovery was a key priority, as it contributed to the creation of safe living conditions for Ukrainians, as well as the country’s economic recovery. However, the Minister of Finance of Ukraine noted a certain discrepancy between the projects in which partners wished to invest and the needs identified in the priorities according to the Second Ukraine Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA2) report.
The Minister of Finance of Ukraine informed the WB representatives that of all the financial commitments of the partners for the recovery of Ukraine, $3.87 billion are aligned with the needs of rapid recovery, which is estimated at $14.1 billion for 2023. Therefore, the Ukrainian side and international donors are currently working on the coordination of the list of rapid recovery projects and the donor resources available for this. (Government portal/Business World Magazine)