Prime Minister of Ukraine and World Bank Managing Director Anna Bjerde signed a $70 million guarantee agreement to boost the resilience of Ukraine’s energy system
On Friday, April 25, in Washington, D.C., USA, Ukraine and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (part of the World Bank Group) signed a Guarantee Agreement. The document provides for an additional USD 70 million in financing through Climate Investment Funds (CIF) for the project “Ukraine – Energy System Resilience for European Power Grid Integration”.
The loan is issued under a state guarantee of Ukraine and will be directed toward installing hybrid electricity generation systems at PJSC “Ukrhydroenergo.” Specifically, it will be used to purchase solar panels as a backup energy source for the hydropower company.
The signatory on behalf of Ukraine was Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, and on behalf of the World Bank - Managing Director of Operations Anna Bjerde.
“I am grateful for the World Bank’s commitment to supporting Ukraine during this period of uncertainty and wartime turbulence, as well as for understanding our urgent needs and its determination to develop new assistance programs in response to current challenges. Today’s agreement confirms that — it will contribute to stabilizing Ukraine’s energy sector and bringing it closer to integration into the European power grid,” said Ukraine’s Minister of Finance following the signing.
On the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko, Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova, and Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa met with World Bank Group President Ajay Banga.
The parties discussed the results of Ukraine’s cooperation with the Bank over more than three years of full-scale war and plans for 2025.
Sergii Marchenko thanked Ajay Banga for his consistent and active engagement in supporting Ukraine’s economy and critical sectors and highlighted the Bank’s key role in coordinating international aid.
“Thanks to our cooperation, Ukraine has already received over USD 51 billion in budget support, mobilized through the Bank’s mechanisms from international partners. We highly value this support,” emphasized the Finance Minister during the meeting.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the World Bank has launched 12 projects in Ukraine aimed at providing emergency support and recovery. These include social support for the population, restoration of energy, transport, and logistics infrastructure, housing repairs, healthcare system reform and medical access, education support, and the recovery of agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as customs and tax reform. These projects include PEACE, INSPIRE, Re-PoWER, RELINC, HOPE, HEAL, ARISE, RISE, THRIVE, LEARN, SURGE, and DRIVE.
The parties also reviewed last year’s cooperation results and discussed the status of project preparation and implementation for 2025. Sergii Marchenko stressed that thanks to initiatives by Ukraine and the World Bank, millions of Ukrainians are receiving essential support.
In 2024 alone, 28 agreements were signed, totaling USD 31.8 billion, including USD 22.9 billion in grants.
These funds enabled support for low-income families, internally displaced persons, people with disabilities, and families with children, as well as salary payments for healthcare and education workers, emergency services, and civil servants – all through the PEACE in Ukraine project (USD 26.3 billion in 2024).
Nearly USD 230 million was directed to support agricultural producers through affordable loans and grants. This supported more than 50,000 farms and 40,000 smallholders, and enabled 10,000 farmers to access financing (ARISE project).
Under the HOPE project, compensation was provided for minor and medium repairs to partially damaged homes for nearly 85,000 households.
Under the Re-PoWER project, USD 47 million in contracts were signed for the supply of key heating equipment to the city of Kharkiv — including 13 modular boiler houses, 15 cogeneration units, and 10 generators.