World Bank approves EUR 300 mln DP loan to Ukraine

The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank
approved on Dec. 17 a EUR 300 mln Economic Recovery Development Policy Loan
(DPL) for Ukraine to support its reforms aimed at economic recovery and growth,
and to help mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entity reported
on the same day. The key reforms supported by the DPL include: fostering
de-monopolization and strengthening anti-corruption institutions, strengthening
land and credit markets and bolstering social safety “for the vulnerable
elderly population to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic”. This was
the second tranche under the DPL, after the first USD 350 mln provided in June
2020.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the World Bank
has provided a total of USD 2.3 bln in loans to Ukraine under various budget
programs, it reported, including a USD 150 mln loan for the Emergency COVID-19
Response and Vaccination Project approved on Dec. 10.

Alexander Paraschiy: The new loan tranche will be helpful for the state budget, which
usually has large outlays at the end of a calendar year. This might slightly
decrease MinFin’s needs of attracting massive debt via issue of local bonds,
thus enabling it to keep bond placement rates under control.