KYIV

The World Bank has allocated $350 mln for social programmes in Ukraine over two years in order to provide a basic guaranteed income for the disabled, unify minimum pension guarantees and rules for indexation of all pensions at the legislative level.

According to the World Bank estimates, 60 percent of the Ukrainians who may fall into poverty because of the COVID-19 outbreak do not currently benefit from any existing social protection programme.

The new funds will help finance Ukraine’s COVID-19 social protection emergency response by introducing fast cash transfers to individuals and households who have lost their jobs or income sources because of the pandemic.

The pandemic response financing is part of the World Bank’s current investment project portfolio in Ukraine amounts to about $3.4 billion, in 11 ongoing investment projects and one Programme for Results operation, with a total of $1.6 billion in budget support, investments, and private sector financing since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June, the World Bank approved a $100 million loan, to be paid out to Ukraine’s Ukreximbank, in order to provide further financing for small and medium-sized businesses affected by restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The loan is being allocated under Ukraine’s “Access to long-term finance” project, as additional financing for the country’s COVID-19 response, the bank said in a press release. State-owned Ukreximbank will use the funds for loans to SMEs, in particular by offering sub-loans of longer maturity than that currently available on the market.

The investments support improvements in basic public services that directly benefit ordinary people in areas such as water supply, sanitation, heating, power, energy efficiency, roads, social protection, education and healthcare, as well as private sector development.

Earlier this year, the World Bank has provided Ukraine with $147 million to respond to COVID-19 in the health sector.

The World Bank’s current investment project portfolio in Ukraine is worth about $3.3 billion, covering 11 ongoing investment projects and one programme for results operation. The investment projects improvements in basic public services and areas such as water supply, sanitation, heating, power, energy efficiency, roads, social protection, education and healthcare, as well as private sector development.

The World Bank, a major international partner of Ukraine, has committed about $14 billion for more than 80 projects and programmes since the country joined the bank in 1992. It is currently overseeing projects valued at $3.3 billion.