President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other financial organizations were ready to help Ukraine amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Yesterday I had a conversation with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. Our international financial partners, including the IMF, the World Bank, the EBRD assured us of their readiness to support and help Ukraine,” he said in an appeal to Ukrainians on Monday, March 23.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as part of the Green Cities program, intends to provide Kyivteploenergo with a loan of EUR 140 million for the modernization of the central heating infrastructure, according to information on the bank’s website.
The project, the approval of which is scheduled for May 27, will be aimed at ensuring the sustainable and efficient operation of Kyiv combined heat and power plants (CHPP) and boiler houses, improving the reliability and quality of heat supply and hot water supply.
As reported, last year, Kyivteploenergo announced its intention to attract a EBRD loan in the amount of EUR 140 million with a three-year grace period to modernize the municipal heating system. At that time, three main areas of the project were reported: closing 45 small boiler houses (out of 200 boiler houses the company has), replacing a condensing heat exchanger at the small block of CHPP-5, and installing new generating capacities at CHPP-6.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the beginning of its activity in the country in 1993, the bank has financed 445 projects for a total amount of almost EUR 14.6 billion.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) have agreed a new EUR 50 million programme of financial guarantees aimed at scaling up investment in renewable energy in Ukraine and in the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood with a particular focus on Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia, the bank has said in a press release.
Under the new programme, the EBRD will provide guarantees to lenders such as local commercial banks, which will allow them to provide financing to projects alongside EBRD loans. The guarantee is expected to help generate total investments of up to EUR 500 million.
This is the first agreement during the bank’s cooperation with the EU through the External Investment Plan (EIP) in the EU neighbourhood regions.
“We’re delighted to partner with the EU for such an urgent cause as climate action. Our lending combined with the EU’s financial instruments encourages more participation of the private sector in investments which are very much needed to face the global challenges of the future, including a more sustainable development model,” EBRD Vice President, Policy and Partnerships Pierre Heilbronn said.
European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Olivér Várhelyi added that the EU is convinced the guarantee provides sufficient risk cover to attract major private sector investment in countries where not enough such financing is available.
According to the report, through the EIP, to date the EU has allocated EUR 4.5 billion in public funds to leverage EUR 44 billion in public and private investment for development in countries neighbouring the EU and in Africa.
Тhe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Sweden have issued funds for an information campaign to promote a solid waste treatment project in Lviv, for which the EBRD together with environmental funds allocated EUR35 million. “In Ukraine, more than 95% of solid waste is brought to landfills, 99% of which do not meet EU standards and carry environmental, safety and health risks. In Sweden, in 2018 less than 1% of solid waste was brought to landfills, and more than 99% was recycled,” Ambassador of Sweden Tobias Thyberg said during the official launch of the program in Kyiv.
Within the framework of the project, which is designed for three years, a number of Internet resources will be created, as well as events with mass media, the public and non-governmental organizations will be carried out. The communications agency Noblet Media CIS is implementing the project, and its cost is not disclosed.
“Today, garbage is an element of politics. I would like this issue to be outside of politics,” Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said.
According to him, after setting fire to the landfill in the Velyki Hrybovychi village, the city has been suffering a garbage blockade for almost two years, and the EBRD and other European partners came to the rescue first. The mayor noted that the city is very interested in the implementation of this project, since it annually has to spend UAH 300 million on garbage removal.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to provide Kormotech LLC (Lviv region), a large Ukrainian producer of pet food, with a loan in the amount of EUR 10 million.
According to the EBRD, the loan could be issued to Kormotech for the construction of a pet food plant in Lithuania and the expansion of feed production facilities in Ukraine.
The bank said it would support the first cross-border investment of the Ukrainian company, consisting of the construction of a new production facility in Lithuania.
According to the EBRD, Kormotech is one of the three largest producers of pet food in Ukraine.
The EBRD could approve the decision on the loan on December 11, 2019.
As reported, Kormotech launched the construction of a feed plant in Lithuania in 2018 and plans to launch it in 2019. The planned capacity is 5,000 tonnes of wet feed per year.
Kormotech exports products to over 20 countries, including France, Estonia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Poland. The company’s facilities include two plants for the production of dry and wet feed in Lviv region. The company produces goods for cats and dogs under its own brands Optimeal, Club 4 Paws.
The ultimate beneficiaries of Kormotech are Olena and Rostyslav Vovk.
The Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved the provision of additional financing in the amount of EUR 200 million for the development of renewable energy sources in Ukraine. The EBRD said it intends to issue new funds to finance private renewable energy projects under the current system of stimulating “green” tariffs. The planned replenishment will allow the bank to build on the success of USELF-III and maintain momentum in the transition from the existing mechanism of preferential tariffs to a support system based on competitive auctions.
The bank noted that the third program of financing renewable energy development approved in July 2018 in the amount of EUR 250 million (Ukraine Sustainable Energy Lending Facility, USELF-III) will be fully implemented by the end of 2019.
As reported, the EBRD under the USELF program has been supporting the development of renewable energy in Ukraine since 2009. The program is aimed at assisting the state in achieving by 2020 the share of “green” generation in the country’s total energy consumption at 11% (including a 6% share of large hydropower plants).
