© Reuters. President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 18, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
By Libby George
LONDON (Reuters) – Growing political opposition to Ukrainian grain exports through Europe will not impact the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development’s efforts to help Ukraine get its products to market, the bank’s chief told Reuters.
EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said the bank still aims to launch a scheme with the private sector this year to insure inland cargo transportation, and continues to work on the so-called “solidarity lane” that has allowed Ukraine to channel more than half its grain exports via Europe since the war began.
Renaud-Basso said protests that have seen Polish farmers block Ukrainian border crossings and call for restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products because they were worried about unfair competition, were not impacting the EBRD’s work.
“The world needs the products from Ukraine… and also for Ukraine to be able to sustain its own economy, war effort and so forth, they need to have resources and be able to export,” she said.
She added that “quite a number” of EBRD projects are aimed at facilitating Ukraine’s transit of goods, including railway, road and port works as well as storage capacity and other logistics.
The EBRD is one of the top lenders to Ukraine’s private sector, and its board last year approved a 4 billion euro capital increase aimed at enabling it to boost its support.
Earlier this month, insurance broker Marsh and Lloyd’s of London underwriters announced an expansion of a marine war insurance programme backed by Ukraine from grain shipments to all non-military cargo, such as iron ore and steel.
Renaud-Basso said the EBRD was now focused on the insurance mechanism for inland transport.
“We hope it will be up and running within the course of the year,” she said.
The EBRD has deployed 1.5-2 billion euros annually since the war began. While the capital increase would enable the lender to double support, that is only likely to happen if the country is no longer in active conflict and reaches a reconstruction phase.
She added that if financial support from the United States to Ukraine were to decline, that could impact the EBRD’s activities, as it would hit Ukraine’s economy.
“We monitor that very closely.”
Read the full article here
