Zelensky says Ukraine needs up to $7 bln in monthly support, PM Shmyhal says from $4 bln to $5 bln

KYIV. April 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine needs up to $7 billion in financial support a month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, attending by video link the Ministerial Roundtable Discussion for Support to Ukraine as part of the 2022 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"As this time, we need up to $7 billion each month to make up for the economic losses. And we will need hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild all this later," Zelensky said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who spoke at the event after Zelensky, said that 12 million Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes due to the ongoing events.

Ukraine's GDP can contract 30%-50% this year, while a preliminary analysis already estimates the size of direct and indirect losses at $560 billion.

"In March of this year, more than 60% of Ukrainian enterprises were stopped completely or partially. In April, the state budget will be performed at only 50%," he said.

The Ukrainian budget is in need of $4 billion to $5 billion in support a month, he said.

Ukraine will set up the United24 fund to rebuild the country and estimates the required size of the fund at $600 billion, Shmyhal said, adding that the objective is both to restore what has been destroyed and to build Ukraine's new economy.

To this end, Ukraine needs a plan similar to the Marshall Plan in the wake of World War II, he said.