EBRD Financing in Ukraine Reaches EUR1.2 Billion in 2023 as Bank’s President Visits Kyiv

UKRAINE: The EBRD, Ukraine’s biggest institutional investor, has committed to deploying at least EUR3 billion of financing in Ukraine’s real economy in 2022-23 and playing a key role in future reconstruction. The Bank’s primary focus is on maintaining energy and food security, restoring infrastructure, providing trade finance, and supporting the private sector.

During her visit, President Renaud-Basso met with clients and representatives of the banking and business community, as well as government officials, to discuss the Bank’s increased engagement in the country. The EBRD has intensified its presence in Kyiv, including through high-level visits to support contacts with clients and authorities.

The Bank has focused on improving road and rail supply routes in and out of Ukraine to counter uncertainty over the main shipping routes through Black Sea ports, which have been affected by the war. The Bank provided EUR182 million to upgrade a section of road between Lviv in the western part of Ukraine and Rava-Ruska on the Polish border. This is in line with the European Solidarity Lanes initiative to boost road and rail access, in which the EBRD is also investing EUR300 million.

Another focus has been on supporting trade and increasing access to finance for Ukrainian private companies, primarily small and medium-sized enterprises. The Bank has a network of 14 partner financial institutions (PFIs) in Ukraine that facilitate the crucial flow of finance to the real economy.

Through its Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) and Resilience and Livelihoods Guarantees, which partially cover the PFIs’ credit risks, the EBRD is enabling Ukrainian businesses to maintain their access to finance. Through these instruments, and by providing senior credit lines, the Bank has since the start of the war supported more than EUR750 million of trade and more than EUR800 million of new lending to private companies operating in agribusiness and other critical sectors of the Ukrainian economy.

The EBRD expects to continue its strong engagement in the country, in line with current investment levels over the next two years. At the EBRD’s 2023 Annual Meeting in Samarkand, the Bank’s Governors recognized that additional shareholder support would be needed for the Bank to sustain its work in Ukraine, in wartime, and in reconstruction. EBRD management and the Board are preparing a proposal for a paid-in capital increase for a final decision by the end of 2023.