Sergii Marchenko: Implementing proper reforms is the basis for developing cooperation with international partners

Today, on 4 December, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko met with a World Bank delegation to discuss the progress of reforms and Ukraine's financing needs for 2024.

The World Bank delegation featured the World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe Arup Banerjі, World Bank Manager in Ukraine Gevorg Sargsyan, and the Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia at World Bank`s Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Practice Group Asad Alam.

The meeting was also attended by First Deputy Minister of Finance Denys Uliutin, Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova, Deputy Minister of Finance for European Integration Yuriy Draganchuk, Deputy Minister of Finance Alexander Kava and Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa.

"I am grateful to the World Bank for its extraordinary support. This year, as part of the financial resources mobilized by the Bank, Ukraine received more than USD 14 billion. The Bank has developed a number of important instruments to attract financing to support the State Budget of Ukraine and restore the infrastructure destroyed by the russian aggression," said Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko.

As of today, the volume of the World Bank's portfolio of active projects is the largest in all the years of cooperation. In this context, the parties discussed the status of implementation of recovery projects.

The World Bank has recently approved two new projects - Investing in Social Protection for Improved Coverage, Resilience and Efficiency (INSPIRE) and the Emergency Project for Inclusive Support to Rebuild Agriculture in Ukraine (ARISE). The INSPIRE project is worth USD 1.2 billion and aimed at improving and developing social protection and assistance programmes. The ARISE project is worth USD 550 million aimed at restoring agriculture.

During the meeting, special attention was paid to the implementation of the measures and reforms agreed by the World Bank and the Government of Ukraine. Sergii Marchenko noted that the priority of the Ukrainian authorities is to ensure that the parties properly and fully comply with the conditions for receiving funding, and that it is used in a transparent and accountable manner, which will create the basis for the country's economic recovery and accelerate the process of overcoming the devastating consequences of the war.

World Bank Director for Eastern Europe Arup Banerji stressed that the World Bank is interested in further supporting Ukraine and finding the necessary measures and conditions to attract funding from foreign partners through joint projects.