The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending €25 million to the city of Dnipro in south-eastern Ukraine. The loan will help to ensure continuous provision of vital municipal services in the city, which has experienced an influx of refugees as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Dnipro is Ukraine’s fourth largest city with a population of approximately one million people. This number has been boosted further in recent months as a result of constant inflows of internally displaced people.
Since the beginning of the war, the city has become a natural destination for refugees because of role as a major economic centre in south-eastern Ukraine.
Dnipro and its key municipal utilities have been seriously affected by the war and are struggling to keep day-to-day operations functioning. The emergency funds will ensure the continuous provision of public services to the city’s growing population. In this way, they will fill a gap created by the difficult economic situation in the country, with local lenders unable to provide such medium term financing.
The city is the second in just a few months to benefit from liquidity support after Lviv at the end of last year.
The EBRD is Ukraine’s largest institutional investor. In 2022 alone, it deployed €1.7 billion and mobilised a further €200 million of support from partner financial institutions.
The Bank has pledged to provide Ukraine with finance of €3 billion by the end of 2023.
The EBRD’s primary focus is to support Ukraine’s “real” economy – maintaining energy and food security, and supporting trade, vital infrastructure and the private sector.
The EBRD was swift to condemn the Russian invasion and has closed its offices in Russia and Belarus.
In June 2021, Dnipro joined the EBRD’s flagship urban sustainability programme, EBRD Green Cities, becoming its 49th member.
