Sergii Marchenko held a several meetings with the World Bank's management in Morocco

During the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko as Chair of the IMF and WB Boards of Governors in 2023 met with the management of the World Bank, in particular with President of the World Bank Ajay Banga, Managing Director of the World Bank for Operations Anna Bjerde, Vice President of the Europe and Central Asia Region at the World Bank Antonella Bassani, and Executive Director of the World Bank Koen Davidse.

The meetings were also attended by Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova, Deputy Minister of Finance for European Integration Yuriy Draganchuk, Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa and representatives of the National Bank of Ukraine, headed by its Governor Andriy Pyshnyy.

Sergii Marchenko expressed gratitude for the management of the World Bank for the long-term productive cooperation:

"The World Bank support, combined with the effective policies of the Government of Ukraine and the National Bank, makes us stronger and helps us maintain macro-financial stability. The financial system is facing a key challenge: ensuring significant expenditures on defense and security, which are fully financed by internal budget revenues, and priority expenditures on social protection and humanitarian assistance, in which Ukraine is largely assisted by international partners. The financial resources, which were mobilized by the World Bank and directed to the State Budget of Ukraine, since February 24, 2022, in loans and grants worth more than USD 26 billion through the Trust Funds of many donors," the Minister of Finance said.

Recently, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and the World Bank have reviewed the World Bank's project portfolio for the first time since 2021. For 2022-2023, the volume of the World Bank's portfolio of active projects is the largest for all years of cooperation. This consists of 20 ongoing projects totaling more than USD 5.5 billion and EUR 1 billion of loans and about USD 22 billion of grants, including under the PEACE in Ukraine, SDPL, Re-Power, RELINC and Heal projects.

The parties discussed the sources of financing for the State Budget 2024, the continuation of joint projects and the launch of new ones for the restoration of Ukraine. 

Sergii Marchenko noted that the Government of Ukraine forecasts active hostilities to continue next year and, as a result, defense spending to remain at the current year's level. The Ukrainian side is counting on continued financial assistance from international donors for social and humanitarian expenditures next year. The need for external financing in 2024 is projected to reach USD 42.9 billion.

The parties also discussed the implementation of joint investment projects in the areas of reconstruction of the transport infrastructure RELINK, the electricity sector Re-Power, support for the healthcare system Heal Ukraine, and housing repairs HOPE. 

The Minister of Finance of Ukraine emphasized that the World Bank is a strategically important partner of Ukraine in the process of reconstruction and recovery.

The Minister of Finance also added that although reconstruction is one of the main priorities of the Government, the first one is to finance all urgent expenditures of the State Budget, namely social protection and humanitarian aid. 

Representatives of the World Bank assured that they would continue to support Ukraine to strengthen its economic resilience.