EBRD to provide another billion euros to rebuild Ukraine's energy infrastructure
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will sign another agreement to allocate one billion euros to Ukraine for energy needs as part of the international conference on the restoration of Ukraine in Berlin.
This was stated by EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso at the opening of the plenary session, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
"We are going to sign a commitment to allocate another billion on the sidelines of this conference," she said. According to the President, the key priority is to support the functioning of infrastructure, namely investments in energy.
"Efforts will now be focused on distributed energy capacities, not just on generating capacities, as was the case last year," Renaud-Basso explained.
According to her, the bank cooperates not only with the government, but also with local authorities, which have an important role to play in this distribution process.
"Municipalities are a very important element in this respect because a lot can be done, for example, with the heating system in a very distributed way, and the more distributed you are, the more you are protected from the effects of the Russian attack," she explained.
The new package of financial assistance from the bank will go to Lutsk district in particular and will be aimed at decentralising heating.
"We have invested more than EUR 4.3 billion to date, half of which was in the private sector last year and half in the public sector to support infrastructure," Renaud-Basso summed up.
According to the EBRD head, financial support for Ukraine is no less important than military support, as it helps to support the economy, which in turn generates taxes: "This allows people to stay in the country and continue to support the war effort."
As Ukrinform reported, the World Bank, together with partners and donors, has mobilised USD 42 billion in support of Ukraine under the PEACE initiative, of which more than USD 38 billion has already been disbursed in tranches.