Sergii Marchenko: Sustainable and inclusive growth is a key element in Ukraine's recovery

Today, on June 9, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko gave a speech at the Annual Joint Meeting of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) governing bodies.

“From the first day of the full-scale russian armed aggression against Ukraine, the Bank has demonstrated its readiness to provide practical assistance to people who were forced to leave the territory of Ukraine as a result of the russian terrorist actions,” said the Minister of Finance of Ukraine.

Sergii Marchenko added that Ukraine is now at the stage of acquiring membership in the CEB, and a lot of work has already been done in this context. In particular, yesterday, on June 8, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the Law on Adopting the Charter of the Council of Europe Development Bank and Accession to the Third Protocol to the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe. This will contribute to the financial stability of the state, and will also have a significant impact on the post-war recovery and integration of Ukraine into the EU.

“The challenges that Ukraine faces as a result of russia's illegal, brutal war are fully and directly correlated with the CEB's economic and social activities, such as sustainable and inclusive growth, which will be a key element in the recovery of Ukraine, as well as support for vulnerable groups population and sustainable ecological development,” said Sergii Marchenko.

The Minister of Finance outlined that Ukraine needs support for sustainable and inclusive growth from the CEB in many areas of recovery:

“First of all, this concerns the recovery of energy infrastructure, housing, critical and social infrastructure, humanitarian demining, as well as support to the private sector. These are the five main priorities defined by the Government of Ukraine.”

Sergii Marchenko noted that according to the Second Ukraine Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA2) report, the direct physical damage from the war is estimated at USD 135 billion, which is over 60% of pre-war GDP. The cost of reconstruction and recovery reaches USD 411 billion, but the priority needs for recovery in 2023 are USD 14.1 billion, of which USD 3.3 billion have already been provided in the State Budget.

Additional Information

Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) is a multilateral financial institution with a social orientation. Membership in the Bank is open to all member states of the Council of Europe and European countries. Currently, the Bank's members include 40 member states of the Council of Europe, the Holy See and Kosovo.

The current activities of the CEB are divided by sectors: refugees and migrants, construction of social housing, improvement of living conditions, environmental protection, overcoming the consequences and prevention of natural disasters, education, health care, preservation of cultural heritage, public administration, support of small and medium businesses. The advantage of CEB is expertise in the areas of civil infrastructure construction, housing construction, education, and health care.