Ukraine has slightly more than one-third of necessary int'l financing for recovery - finance minister

MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - Only $3.87 billion in financial obligations by Ukrainian partners match Ukraine's fast recovery needs estimated at $14.1 billion in 2023, Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko said.

Meeting with Pierre Heilbronn, the French president's special envoy for Ukraine's relief and reconstruction, Marchenko said the soonest possible recovery is a key priority, as it helps create safe living conditions for Ukrainians and contributes to the country's economic revival, Ukrainian media quoted the ministry as saying in a statement.

The international financing raised in the amount of $3.87 billion has been distributed among priority fields, i.e. $837 million for energy support, $169 million for humanitarian demining, $25 million for the restoration of damaged housing, $206 million for assistance to the private sector, and $2.6 billion for repairing critical infrastructure, Marchenko said.

The minister said there was some discrepancy between the projects that partners are interested in investing and Ukraine's real needs, with Ukraine and international donors currently working to agree on a list of reconstruction projects and available resources.

Previously, Marchenko said that $3.3 billion should be allocated for primary reconstruction, while the rest of the sum that the World Bank estimated under RDNA2 at up to $14.1 billion, Ukraine expected to receive via international aid.

At the third ministerial roundtable in support of Ukraine during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meeting in Washington in April, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal called for raising the necessary sum by the end of the first half of 2023.

In late May, Marchenko said international partners had provided about $4.3 billion in guarantees, while the unsecured financing for Ukraine's priority reconstruction needs amounted to about $6.5 billion more.

The Ukrainian energy sector's priority reconstruction needs are estimated at $3.3 billion, humanitarian demining at $400 million, the restoration of destroyed and damaged housing at $1.9 billion, critical and social infrastructure at $5.8 billion, while support for the private sector needs is estimated at $2.8 billion, Marchenko said.