MOSCOW, May 12.Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal said on Friday in his telegram channel that the government, together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), is preparing a project to restore the railway, according to which the Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) company will receive 200 million euros.
«Today, a decision was made to raise 200 million euros from the EBRD for Ukrzaliznytsia. These are funds for the purchase of equipment necessary to restore railway corridors from the EU, improve passenger traffic and purchase additional locomotives,» Shmyhal said.
In September last year, Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine signed an agreement with the EBRD, thanks to which the railway will receive almost 100 million euros. The former head of the board of JSC «Ukrzaliznytsia» Oleksandr Kamyshin called the decision to reprofil the existing EBRD loan in support of the company's liquidity the first step in the new «Marshall Plan» for the restoration of Ukraine.
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the restoration of Ukraine would require «approximately» $600-800 billion, the exact amount will be known after the end of the conflict. In March, the World Bank, together with the European Commission, the UN and the government of Ukraine, estimated the country's needs for recovery and reconstruction at $411 billion. The updated estimate significantly exceeded the September forecast of 349 billion and is now equivalent to 2.6 of Ukraine's 2022 GDP.
According to experts, the greatest concern is the risk of non-repayment of borrowed funds by Ukraine, despite the promises of its «sponsors» not to allow default on loan obligations, including to the World Bank.