Minister of Finance of Ukraine Meets with Vice-President of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia

On September 13, 2021, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko met with Vice-President of the World Bank Group for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde. The meeting was part of her first working visit to Ukraine.

Deputy Minister of Finance for European Integration Yuriy Draganchuk, Deputy Minister of Finance Alexander Kava, Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa, and Arup Banerji, the World Bank Regional Director for Eastern Europe (Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine) also participated in the meeting.

Representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank discussed the terms and conditions of the Second Development Policy Loan for Economic Recovery, cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), results of joint projects, green transition in Ukraine, and main directions of further cooperation between the two parties.

"We appreciate the cooperation with the World Bank. It has allowed Ukraine to maintain macrofinancial stability and finance the budget deficit in a difficult year. Also, which is extremely important, this year we have enough funds to purchase the necessary number of vaccines, "- said the Minister of Finance of Ukraine.

The World Bank is one of the key partners of Ukraine. To date, the allocation of funds within the portfolio of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), compared to other international financial institutions, is the largest - as of September 1, 2021, it amounted to USD 2.3 billion.

Anna Bjerde pointed out that Ukraine has shown significant progress in economic recovery during the pandemic. In addition, she said that the World Bank supports the reform of the pension system and the reform of other spheres necessary for the country's development.

At the same time, the sides discussed the conditions of obtaining a Second loan for development policy in the sphere of economic recovery. The World Bank is planning to raise the question of the Second Loan at the meeting of the Board of Directors in December 2021.

Also, participants dicussed ongoing joint projects: "Emergency COVID-19 and vaccination in Ukraine", "Ukraine Improving Higher Education for Results" and "Improving Power System Resilience for European Power Grid Integration (Installation of Hybrid Systems for Electricity Production in Ukrhydroenergo)".

Minister of Finance of Ukraine underlined that recovery and development of the Ukrainian economy will be based on green transition and climate change prevention which is one of the important directions of cooperation with the Bank.

"Green transition is one of the priority directions of Ukraine. We are working to create a new low-emission environment. By 2030 we plan to reduce emissions of CO2 by 35% compared to 1990", - said Sergii Marchenko.

Also, the Ukrainian side noted that they are waiting for the IMF mission next week.

To summarize, the parties defined the main areas of cooperation between Ukraine and the World Bank soon. The priorities of cooperation will be financing the purchase of vaccines, the project Second Development Policy Loan in the Sphere of Economic Recovery, green transition, and railways development.