World Bank to grant Ukraine $1.2B to finance social payments

Ukraine and the World Bank have signed an agreement on the launch of a new project, entitled "Investing in Social Protection for Inclusion, Resilience, and Efficiency (INSPIRE)", to finance 29 social assistance programs in the country.

That's according to the press service of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"On December 4, Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovych and World Bank Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Arup Banerjee signed an agreement on the launch of a new project, 'Investing in Social Protection for Inclusion, Resilience, and Efficiency (INSPIRE)'," the statement said.

The objective of the project is to finance 29 types of social payments to the most vulnerable people in Ukraine and support reforms in the field of social protection in Ukraine.

The INSPIRE project is financed by a $1.2 billion World Bank loan, backed by a credit enhancement from the Advancing Needed Credit Enhancement for Ukraine (ADVANCE Ukraine) Trust Fund, supported by the Government of Japan.

The funds will be sent to the general fund of the state budget and help finance 29 social assistance programs envisaged in the state budget for 2023-2024.