Rebuilding Ukraine’s economy after more than a year of Russian aggression will cost at least $411 billion, or 2.6 times Ukraine’s estimated GDP in 2022, a new report says. of the World Bank, the UN, the European Commission and Ukraine, released on Wednesday.
The estimates include the amount of war damage over the year since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
The report assesses the direct physical damage to infrastructure and buildings in Ukraine, as well as the impact of the war on people’s lives and livelihoods, and the cost of repairing the damage.
The valuation has risen sharply from that published last September at $349 billion.
“Energy infrastructure, housing, critical infrastructure, economy and humanitarian demining are our five priorities for this year,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said, commenting on the World Bank report.
Shmyhal noted that the estimated damage to reconstruction cost figures in the report do not include data on the loss of infrastructure, housing and businesses in the territories currently occupied by Russian troops.
The day before, the IMF had announced that it had concluded a working agreement with Ukraine on a financing program of 15.6 billion dollars over four years. This agreement is the result of months of negotiations between the Fund and the Ukrainian authorities and should be ratified by the IMF’s Executive Board in the coming weeks. The agreement is expected to help deploy large-scale funding for Ukraine from international donors and partners.
According to a rapid needs assessment, Ukraine will need $14 billion in critical and priority investments in 2023, which will require $11 billion in funding in addition to what is foreseen in the 2023 budget. Ukraine.
About 22% of these needs concern transport, 17% housing, 11% agriculture and 7% energy.
World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde hailed Ukraine’s resilience and determination to meet the urgent challenges of recovery and reconstruction. “Our continued support for Ukraine is an investment in both the country and the global economy.” Bjerde assured that the World Bank will continue to cooperate with the Ukrainian government and help it solve the country’s short and long-term problems, using donor contributions and cooperation with partners.
On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund said its staff had reached an agreement with Ukrainian authorities on a four-year, $15.6 billion loan package that could leverage billions more in aid from other institutions after approval. by the IMF’s Executive Board in the coming weeks.
Recall that on March 7, the Board of Directors of the World Bank approved an additional package in support of the budget of Ukraine, entitled “Financing the recovery from the emergency economic situation in Ukraine”, from $489 million.
Approved package includes additional $350m loan and $139m guarantees(“Financing the recovery from the economic emergency in Ukraine” ).
In addition, $134 million in grants are being raised and $100 million in parallel funding is being raised, bringing the total amount of support raised to $723 million. This accelerated support will help the government provide essential services to the people of Ukraine, including hospital salaries, pensions for the elderly and social programs for the vulnerable.
The initial support from the World Bank has been increased by €80 million and US$50 million in guarantees from the Netherlands and Sweden, respectively. The World Bank has also established a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MTDF) to facilitate the flow of donor grant funds to Ukraine. The UK, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland have contributed to the fund and have so far donated $134 million. The World Bank is appealing for new contributions in the form of grants to the MTDF. Additionally, Japan is tying additional funding of $100 million to this additional package.
