The World Bank has announced the allocation of $550 million to help more than 90,000 farmers in Ukraine access concessional loans and grants for agricultural production.
The “Emergency Project of Inclusive Support for the Restoration of Agriculture in Ukraine (ARISE)” will facilitate access to concessional financing for agricultural producers in 2023 and 2024. The project will help farmers mobilize about $1.5 billion in working capital,” the WB said in a statement on Tuesday night.
It is specified that the financing of the ARISE project consists of a $230 million loan from the World Bank from the Trust Fund for Providing Ukraine with Necessary Credit Support (ADVANCE Ukraine), supported by the Government of Japan. The financing also includes a $320 million grant from the Ukraine Recovery, Rehabilitation and Transformation Trust Fund (URTF).
“The innovative design of the project envisages attracting additional financing of up to $150 million, when such funds are available from the World Bank and donors,” the release says.
“The ARISE project will help thousands of Ukrainian farmers, many of them small, continue to produce in what will undoubtedly be a very challenging environment in the coming months,” the statement quoted Antonella Bassani, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, as saying.
The WB recalled that the total cost of damage to the Ukrainian agricultural sector from Russia’s invasion is estimated at $40.2 billion, and it has likely increased since the last Rapid Assessment of Damage and Recovery Needs was published in February 2023. This figure does not take into account the demining of farmland, damage to irrigation systems, losses to agro-logistics, and losses to food processing companies, the bank added.
The ARISE project will be implemented by the Entrepreneurship Development Fund and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine. This is the fifth World Bank project approved for Ukraine this year under an innovative and flexible framework model. It provides for the rapid mobilization of partner resources to finance urgent needs, and such financing can be expanded as needed when additional funds become available.
Next year, the World Bank and the Government of Ukraine will focus on critical reforms and investments in priority sectors, including energy, health and social protection, education, housing rehabilitation, and agriculture, the release said.
