On 4 March, the European Investment Bank (EIB) approved €668 million in immediate financial support for Ukraine.
It will help the Ukrainian authorities to meet most urgent financial needs, including buying food, medical supply and fuel for its citizens. The immediate support will be available in a matter of days. The EIB will disburse funds available under two EIB loans that were originally granted to support SMEs and the agricultural sector in Ukraine.
In addition, the EIB will pursue further initiatives under the emergency Solidarity Package for Ukraine. These include:
- Financing critical infrastructure needs in Ukraine by repurposing infrastructure project commitments to meet immediate investment and reconstruction needs. These will cover transport, energy, urban development and digital investment. The money can be available very quickly, as soon as Ukrainian authorities are in a position to sign off on amendments to existing contracts;
- Helping to rebuild whatever the Russian army destroys by financing new critical economic and social infrastructure needed as soon as a free and independent Ukraine is re-established after the war. For this, the EIB will use its experience with the Ukraine Early Recovery Programme after the Russian aggression of 2014, that had supported the reconstruction of 238 municipal and social infrastructure projects like schools and kindergartens, hospitals and social housing.
In addition, EIB experts are currently assessing the needs of countries in Ukraine’s neighbourhood and within the EU that are welcoming refugees from Ukraine or are affected by the war in other ways. The EU bank is working with national and local authorities, National Promotional Institutions and other counterparties to make financial and technical assistance urgently available to these countries and regions. Financing could take the form of rapidly reprioritising existing, as yet undisbursed loans to regions and municipalities, or approving new refugee-related operations that the EIB could finance up to a 100% instead of the usual maximum 50%.
Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank, said that the EIB is also looking at ways to accelerate the delivery of an additional €1.3 billion of investment. He added: “As soon as conditions allow, we will help rebuild what the invasion destroyed in Ukraine. We will also step in to help all affected countries, whether within the EU or in its neighbourhood, to cope with the arrival of refugees from Ukraine and with the economic damage brought by this terrible war.”
