World Bank President Ajay Banga told Reuters on Friday that he is "absolutely" open to the idea of managing a G7 loan fund for Ukraine backed by proceeds from frozen Russian sovereign assets - at least for non-military purposes, UNN reports.
Details
Banga, who attended a meeting of G7 finance ministers discussing the concept of such a loan, said the World Bank has sufficient experience in managing similar non-military donor funds, including one for Afghanistan. He said he could "repeat" this work for a loan to Ukraine.
Міністри G7 наближаються до угоди про російські активи для допомоги Україні25.05.24, 09:30
Banga said he was not a party to the loan negotiations and had not been approached by Yellen or other G7 finance ministers.
"All I know is that if they decide to give it to us, am I ready? Yes," Banga said.
"I could manage this type of fund. I would need guarantees, I would need to make sure that our people understand how to use it," he added.
According to him, this will include coordinating the process of allocating funds to projects with the countries sponsoring the loan.
At the same time, Banga said that the World Bank is prohibited from making any payments for military purposes, either directly or through a financial intermediary fund.
Earlier this week, a representative of the US Treasury Department said that channeling funds through such an international institution would make the loan "look like a grant from Ukraine's perspective" without increasing the country's debt burden.
Addendum
The World Bank already manages approximately $42 billion to support Ukraine's economy, mostly from donor countries.
The World Bank has also conducted an extensive assessment of the damage caused by the war in Ukraine, estimating in February that the country needs $486 billion to rebuild its infrastructure, housing, and economy after the war ends, nearly three times its annual output.
Banga said the figure was likely to have increased as a result of recent missile attacks by Russia, but declined to give a new estimate of the damage.