The European Investment Bank will Allocate €1 billion to Support Ukrainian Businesses and Rebuild Infrastructure

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, in cooperation with the European Commission and the Government of Ukraine, signed a number of important projects and partnership agreements; funds in the amount of EUR 1 billion will be directed to Ukrainian business and the restoration of local critical infrastructure. That’s according to the Ministry of Economy, Ukrinform reports.

"President of the EIB Group, Nadia Calvino, who took part in the (Ukraine Recovery – ed.) Conference together with the vice-president of the EIB, Teresa Czerwinska, announced the signing of new financial agreements within the framework of two EU guarantee programs for Ukrainian banks. They involve attracting more than EUR 1 billion in loans to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ukraine," the report says.

Signed with the European Commission and supported by the EU budget, these guarantees will, in particular, help war-affected SMEs, veterans, internally displaced persons, as well as women and young entrepreneurs, providing resources to support the Ukrainian economy and create jobs.

Another EUR 100 million will help restore basic services in Ukrainian cities, such as clean water supplies, and rebuild critical social infrastructure, including hospitals, social housing, schools, and kindergartens.

The Ministry informs that the expansion of the leading EU advisory program JASPERS for Ukraine was also announced. Thanks to JASPERS – in partnership between the European Commission and the EIB – a new EU advisory package of EUR 20 million will be introduced to support the Ukrainian government in preparing quality investment projects on the ground and strengthening technical capacity for effective use of recovery funds, as outlined in the cooperation framework program signed with the government of Ukraine.

The EIB Group also continues work on the launch of other crucial projects for Ukraine, which includes support for the implementation of the European emergency hotline 112 and the call system, restoration of damaged railway lines, modernization of railway border crossing points with EU member states and modernization of the Kyiv metro. These projects, in line with Ukraine’s priorities, will be signed in the coming weeks with the financial support of the EIB Fund EU for Ukraine and the EU’s Ukraine Facility in the amount of EUR 50 billion.

In Berlin, a plan was also announced to create a new pan-European mechanism for guaranteeing export credits worth EUR 300 million to support small and medium-sized EU companies exporting to Ukraine. It will be managed by the EIB's Venture Capital Group subsidiary, the European Investment Fund, and the European Commission as part of its key investment program InvestEU.