The European development bank raised one billion euros ($1.04 billion) in aid for Ukraine at its annual general assembly this week, the institution’s president said Thursday.
The money comes on top of two billion euros in a “resilience package” that was launched by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Donors have expressed the intention” to provide one billion euros to the bank “in response to the war on Ukraine,” EBRD president Odile Renaud-Basso said at a news conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.
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The EBRD forecast this week that the Ukrainian economy will shrink by 30 percent this year, more than previously estimated.
Ukraine estimates that it needs around $5 billion per month just to cover its budget deficit.
It also wants donors to focus also on its future reconstruction.
Ukraine’s Finance Minister Sergiy Marchenko had urged international donors to “maximize” efforts to help his nation in a video link address to the EBRD on Wednesday.
Kyiv can only cover about 62 percent of primary budget needs excluding military expenditure, Marchenko said.
Ukraine has been pushing Western countries for more support.
US lawmakers voted Tuesday to send a $40-billion aid package to Ukraine.
If the package passes the Senate as expected, US spending to bolster Ukraine’s defenses and address the ensuing humanitarian crisis will soar to around $54 billion.
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