The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is ready to continue supporting the private sector in Ukraine. The Corporation announced its intention to mobilize USD 250 million this year for Ukrainian banks to increase lending to small and medium-sized businesses. This as well as the deepening of cooperation between the Ministry of Economy and USAID in the framework of the Advantage Ukraine investment initiative was discussed during a meeting in Kyiv between First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko and DFC Chief Executive Officer Scott Nathan.

“The support of international creditors in such a difficult time is evidence that our partners have no doubts that Ukraine will win. DFC’s intentions can become a signal for other creditors and investors around the world, who will be the first to join the reconstruction of Ukraine and the development of the economy right away, without waiting for the war to end,” said First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko. 

In general, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation announced its readiness to mobilize more than USD 1 billion to support the economy of Ukraine.

“The private sector demonstrates its resilience and should contribute to attracting investments in the development of Ukraine. We want to start investing right away so that to help Ukrainian businesses continue to grow despite extremely difficult circumstances. I am convinced that DFC’s funds will allow to mobilize more than USD 1 billion of private capital to support the economy of Ukraine. DFC aims to implement high-quality projects at the highest standards in the months and years to come in Ukraine,” said DFC Chief Executive Officer Scott Nathan.

Note that usually DFC supports only US investors who make investments in various countries around the world. But for the sake of Ukraine, they made an exception and are ready to issue loans, even if a US investor is not represented in the Ukrainian business.

To provide support in Ukraine, DFC will use several instruments at once – in addition to direct lending, it is also about covering credit and military risks. The latter product is currently available but requires additional refinancing which DFC is already working on.

A separate topic of communication between Yuliia Svyrydenko, Scott Nathan and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink was the deepening of cooperation between USAID and the Ministry of Economy within the framework of the Advantage Ukraine investment initiative

“Ministry of Economy and DFC are cooperating on the development and provision of a list of investment projects with the help of Advantage Ukraine. The project team of the initiative, consisting of professional investment bankers, investment fund professionals and the Big Four and working with the support of the USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine Program, will carry out a preliminary selection of projects, cooperating with the applicants. After the victory, our state will become one of the best in the world in terms of opportunities for investors. So we are doing everything we can to ensure that the investment process starts straight away,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

It is expected that in order to work as efficiently as possible, a group of DFC experts will come to Ukraine in the near future to conduct briefings for the Advantage Ukraine team, which will help specify the project selection criteria and save time for application review.

For reference

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is a U.S. government agency that cooperates with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges the developing countries are facing today.

DFC invests in all sectors, including energy, health care, critical infrastructure and technology. It also provides financing for small businesses to create jobs.