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.
Google will provide a $2 million grant and its experts from Google.org Fellowship for the development of digital education in Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine said in a Telegram channel on Friday.
As handwriting in the Ministry of Digital Transformation, it will help Ukrainians get a new profession, learn digital literacy and find a job.
In addition, as part of a joint project with Google.org, the Ministry of Digital plans to update the platform of the national project “Dia. Digital Education.”
It is planned, in particular, to introduce elements of artificial intelligence to create an individual training plan, interactive simulators that will bring the user closer to real situations in the profession; as well as recommendations for requalification and professional development.
In addition, the platform wants to implement job searches according to direction and success in training.
“Also, the grant from Google.org involves the creation of a special educational application and the development of new educational series and projects,” said in the report of the Ministry of Information.
In addition, the functionality of the platform and educational products will be translated into English.
The team of the project “Dia. Digital Education” will work together with specialists from the Google.org Fellowship team.
Product managers, software engineers, and marketing managers from Google will help scale Project Dia. Digital Education” for six months.
The goal of the project is to help Ukraine solve the issue of unemployment among IDPs and contribute to the economic revival of the country. The partner of the project is the Eastern Europe Foundation.
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz announced the allocation of humanitarian aid to Ukraine in the amount of $400 million, the official SPA news agency reported on Saturday following his phone talk with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky the day before.
The Crown Prince emphasized “the Kingdom’s position of supporting everything that will contribute to de-escalation, and the Kingdom’s readiness to continue the efforts of mediation,” SPA reported.
In turn, Zelensky congratulated the crown prince for his appointment as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, and expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Kingdom for its vote for the UNGA resolution, along with 142 other countries, condemning Russia’s decision to annex.
Ben Salman stressed that the Kingdom’s vote for the resolution emanates from its commitment to the deep rooted principles in the UN charter and international law, and its commitment to the respect of state sovereignty and the principles of good neighborliness, and resolving conflicts by peaceful means.
The President of Ukraine said the two leaders had agreed to work towards the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russian troops. The Saudi Crown Prince played a prominent role in mediating efforts in September that successfully led to the release of 10 prisoners of war, including two Americans.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says that the state budget has received a $1.5 billion grant from the United States from the World Bank Trust Fund.
“The state budget received a grant in the amount of $1.5 billion. This is the last tranche of $4.5 billion from the United States from the World Bank Trust Fund,” Shmygal wrote on Twitter.
According to him, the funds will be used to reimburse budgetary expenses for pension payments and social assistance programs.
The prime minister thanked US President Joseph Biden for supporting Ukraine.
