NEC Ukrenergo, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance have signed two agreements with the World Bank to provide the company with $240 million in grant aid to improve the reliability of the energy system, Ukrenergo Chairman of the Board Volodymyr Kudrytskyy said.
“Almost $240 million is another significant contribution from our international partners to ensure the sustainability of our connection to the European energy system and the restoration of high-voltage substations,” he wrote on his Facebook on Tuesday evening.
According to his message, the first agreement provides Ukrenergo with grant funds from the German government, which will be used for the purchase and installation of STATCOM – special devices that increase the stable operation of the power grid.
“Ukrenergo fulfills an important technical condition of ENTSO-E to strengthen our connection to the European grid. STATCOM devices will not only increase the stability of the Ukrainian energy system, but will also have a positive impact on the balance of the entire interconnected European continental grid,” Kudrytskyi explained.
Another document determines the transfer of assistance to the NEC for the purchase of special equipment, autotransformers and other high-voltage equipment damaged by Russian missile and drone strikes.
At the same time, the head of Ukrenergo thanked the Ukrainian government, WB Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Antonella Bassani and WB Regional Director for Eastern Europe Arup Banerjee “for the fruitful joint cooperation and strengthening of Ukraine’s energy security”.
For a year of action of the governmental project of grant programs “eRabota” the state has invested in business development 4 billion UAH, from which 2,4 billion UAH were given out in the form of grants for development of the processing enterprises, informed the first vice-prime minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko.
“On July 1 last year the government launched grant programs “eRabota” to support businesses in this difficult time, to help them recover and develop. During the year, more than 5,600 entrepreneurs have already received grants under these programs. In total the government has invested UAH 4 billion to activate the business sphere”, – as she said in the press release of the Ministry of Economy and Trade of Ukraine.
It is specified that with the grant funds the Ukrainians got an opportunity to start their own business, the already operating enterprises opened new directions, expanded the spheres of activity, increased the production of goods and services.
According to the message, since the start of the project “eRabota” in July 2022 under the program “Own Business” 5061 microgrants were given to the total amount 1.2 billion UAH, for the development of processing enterprises – 455 grants worth 2.4 billion UAH, for gardening and greenhouse development – 88 grants worth 325 million UAH.
The Ministry of Economy reminded that both current entrepreneurs and people without experience in business may apply for a grant. Applications are submitted through the portal “Diya” together with a business plan. An obligatory condition of receiving a grant is creation of new workplaces – from 1-2 at granting a micro-grant to several tens at granting grants under other programs.
Grant funds shall be returned to the state through taxes and fees paid during the operation of the enterprise within three years.
As reported, the eRabotka project was introduced by the government in July 2022 to support businesses and stimulate the creation of new jobs. It includes several grant programs. In particular, these are programs of micro grants for the opening or development of their own business, grants for the creation and development of processing enterprises, the establishment of orchards and vineyards, greenhouse industry.
Earlier, the Kiev Analytical Center “Expert Club” and its founder Maxim Urakin together with the founder of “Granta” company and grant projects implementation expert Olga Shaverina launched a series of YouTube videos devoted to the peculiarities of grant financing. Read more in the video at
Educational platform Prometheus and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) open the program “Bootcamp economic recovery” with 60 thousand grant places for training of Ukrainian entrepreneurs, the co-founder of Prometheus Ivan Primachenko in Facebook reported.
According to the message, Ukrainian entrepreneurs will be taught by Harvard, the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School and Rice University, as well as the co-founders of Novaya Poshta, Preply, Eugene Klopotenko and other leading entrepreneurs in Ukraine.
The program includes four courses: “How to Start Your Own Business in Times of Uncertainty: A Step-by-Step Guide from Ukraine’s Top Entrepreneurs”; “CS50: Fundamentals of Programming for Business Professionals” from Harvard University; “Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Business” from the Darden Business School at Virginia Tech; and “Finance for Non-Financial People” from Rice University.
“I haven’t yet seen top American universities open their business courses for free, and in a different language. This is a unique chance that should be taken here and now,” Primachenko wrote.
Registration for the Economic Recovery Bootcamp program is open from today at https://prometheus ua/prometheus-plus/bootcamp).
Ukraine’s state budget on Friday received another tranche of $1.25 billion in grant funds from the United States.
“Funding was provided through the World Bank Trust Fund as part of the fourth additional funding for the Supporting Public Expenditures for Sustainable Governance in Ukraine (PEACE) Project,” the Finance Ministry pointed out.
He specified that Ukraine has already received about $16.7 billion in grants from the U.S. since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“The partnership with the U.S. and the World Bank team during the war allows the Ukrainian government to fund priority social expenditures in full. At the same time, aid in the form of grants does not increase the debt burden and helps stabilize the financial system,” said Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.
As reported, the external financing needs of the state budget of Ukraine in 2023 is more than $ 42 billion.
Since the beginning of this year, by April 26, according to the Ministry of Finance, funding from international partners has already reached $15.285 billion, compared to $32.144 billion for the whole of last year. That includes $3.5 billion in grants from the U.S. this year. The EU, with $6.501 billion, the IMF, with $2.706 billion, and Canada, with $1.757 billion, have also already provided large loans.
Domestic financing from government bonds this year amounted to $4.839 billion.
Ukraine will receive a $170 million grant from Japan to implement Ukraine’s “Rapid Recovery Plan,” Japanese Ambassador Matsuda Kuninori and Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction and Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov signed the agreement on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Reconstruction, the day before, the deputy prime minister also signed a memorandum under which the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will independently oversee the use of funds for housing reconstruction in the Kiev region.
“Transparency and accountability are the basic principles of the approach to reconstruction. Without fulfilling these conditions, the involvement of international partners and, in general, the effective restoration of the destroyed is impossible (…) We plan to scale the successful experience of supervision and cooperation with UNDP in matters of independent supervision to other restoration projects in different regions of Ukraine”, – Kubrakov noted.
According to him, similar cooperation is planned with other international organizations – financial or expert.
In addition to independent oversight, UNDP will support digitalization of reconstruction, development and monitoring processes in regional development, work on enhancing the capacity of local governments to implement infrastructure projects, community access to international donor funding and energy efficiency of social infrastructure.
In addition, the UN Development Program will provide technical support to Ukraine in reconstruction.
As reported, the Government of Japan has allocated $170 million for Ukraine’s reconstruction, and before that another $95 million, which was sent to the UNDP Development Program in the framework of a partnership agreement.
In addition, in January, the “Recovery” direction was launched within the framework of the fundraising platform United24. Due to it, 18 apartment buildings in Irpen, Borodyanka, Gostomel, Buzova and Mily will be fundamentally repaired and about 4000 residents will be able to return into their homes by the end of 2023. For this purpose, according to the decision of the government, more than 500 million UAH collected at the special account of United24 will be directed.
NEC Ukrenergo and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed an agreement on a EUR70mn target grant to the company from the bank’s Special Fund provided by the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, NEC CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyy said.
As Kudritsky explained on his Facebook, the funds will be used exclusively to purchase the equipment needed to resume the reliable operation of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“We are grateful to our international partners for such a high level of confidence in our company and strong support in the restoration of Ukraine’s energy system. We are now actively working with manufacturers around the world to deliver the necessary equipment as soon as possible,” said the head of Ukrenergo.
As earlier reported, at the beginning of December, NEC Ukrenergo noted that it had attracted EUR300 mln of credit funds from the EBRD, EUR150 mln of which would be allocated for the purchase of equipment necessary for substations that have been subject to massive Russian missile strikes.
The rest EUR150 mln of the EBRD loan will be used to replenish Ukrenergo’s working capital, in particular, to fulfill the company’s financial obligations in the electricity market amid the non-payments that arose in the market because of the war.
At the same time, there was also talk about attracting EUR72 million in grant funds from the Netherlands to restore networks and improve the financial stability of the company.
