The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is interested in contributing to the restoration of the Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts, which were significantly affected by the war. This was discussed during a meeting between Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the EBRD, in London.

“We are sincerely grateful to the EBRD for its continued support to Ukraine. The Bank’s contribution to Ukraine’s recovery is hard to overestimate. Last year, a record EUR 2.1 billion, of which 50% was used to support the private sector, was disbursed. This proves once again that the EBRD is committed to making the private sector the backbone of Ukraine’s recovery. This year, the Bank will continue to support Ukrainian businesses – a number of specific projects have already been developed in the energy, manufacturing, logistics, agricultural and other sectors. In addition, our partners from the EBRD are interested in actively contributing to the restoration of the Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts, which were significantly affected by the war,” Yuliia Svyrydenko emphasized.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed business insurance against war risks, in particular, insurance instruments for ships, cargo in transit or in warehouses. And the possibilities of potential expansion of insurance.

Cooperation between the EBRD and development financial institutions (DFIs) was also discussed. The Co-investment Platform was launched to coordinate efforts to invest in Ukraine, especially in the private sector. DFIs from 19 countries have already joined the platform.

“The private sector will be the backbone of Ukraine’s recovery, so it is important for us to coordinate the efforts of international financial institutions to rebuild Ukraine more effectively and on a larger scale, with a focus on the private sector. Our cooperation should help restore Ukraine’s economy, industry, infrastructure and normalise people’s lives. To this end, together with the EBRD, we will hold a series of workshops to strengthen the coordination of European development agencies for the recovery of Ukraine,” Yuliia Svyrydenko said.

Background:

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided a record EUR 2.1 billion to Ukraine in 2023, following EUR 1.7 billion in 2022. The EBRD, which is the largest institutional investor in Ukraine, has significantly increased its investments since the russian invasion in February 2022 and in October 2023 exceeded its target of EUR 3 billion in Ukraine in 2022-2023.

In 2023, the EBRD’s management also decided to increase the Bank’s paid-in capital by EUR 4 billion to EUR 34 billion to further support Ukraine. Investments in Ukraine during the war are expected to continue at around EUR 1.5 billion per year, with the capital increase providing the opportunity to double this amount when the time comes for recovery.

During 2022-2023, the EBRD also managed to mobilise around EUR 1.6 billion in donor funds for Ukraine, including unfunded guarantees. More than EUR 409 million of this amount was disbursed in 2023 alone. Almost half of the donor resources were provided by the European Union. Significant contributions were also made by individual donors, including Canada, Norway, Spain and the Netherlands.