Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and World Bank Regional Director for Eastern Europe Bob Som signed financial agreements on Wednesday for the new systemic project "Support for Recovery through Sound Fiscal Management" (SURGE).
"The planned total financing for the project is $750 million. It is expected that by the end of 2024, Ukraine will fulfill the activities outlined in the loan agreement with the IBRD and receive funds amounting to $400 million," the Ministry of Finance reported in a press release on its website.
It is specified that an agreement has been signed for a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) amounting to $450 million from the Target Fund for providing necessary credit support to Ukraine (ADVANCE Ukraine), supported by the Japanese government, as well as a credit agreement of $300 million from the Special Recovery Program for Ukraine and Moldova (SPUR) of the Bank's Crisis Fund.
"The implementation of the SURGE project will assist the Ukrainian government in enhancing the management of public investments, making it more efficient and transparent. This is an important step towards meeting Ukraine's recovery needs," Marchenko emphasized.
Additionally, the parties signed a grant agreement for the investment component "Strengthening Government Capacity to Implement Fiscal Reform" (STRONG) amounting to $10 million from the Multi-Donor Target Fund for Supporting, Recovering, and Reforming Ukraine (URTF). The goal of STRONG is to support the effective implementation of institutional reforms within the SURGE framework.
The implementation of SURGE will be carried out using the financial instrument "Program-for-Results." Among other objectives of the project are improving fiscal management at the local level, enhancing medium-term and program budgeting at the local level, and revenue administration.