How much money will it take to rebuild Ukraine, here's what World Bank calculated
1 min read 23 Mar 2023, 06:51 PM ISTThe cost is expected to rise as the war continues and recently Russia has also intensified the missile attacks against Ukraine
PremiumThe Russian invasion of Ukraine has been extremely destructive and according to a report by World Bank, the cost of rebuilding Ukraine is estimated at $411 billion. The cost of cleaning up the rubble of destroyed buildings is pegged at around $5 billion. The cost is expected to rise as the war continues and recently Russia has also intensified the missile attacks against Ukraine. The report was jointly released by Ukraine, World Bank, United Nations, and the European Commission.
In September last year, a similar report calculating the cost of rebuilding Ukraine was released which calculated the expense at $349 billion. The report includes details from the number of the house damaged to people killed and calculates both economic and human casualties of the Russian invasion.
The report calculates $135 billion as direct damage to the buildings, with more than 2 million homes damaged and more than 5 public health institutions destroyed. The authors of the report added that the cost does not include the economic repercussions of a year-long war on the economy of Ukraine.
The destruction could have been worse and the cost could have been higher in case Ukraine had not presented an effective defense. The Ukrainian forces kept the maximum damage confined to the frontline areas like Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kherson, etc.
The World Bank report acknowledged the resilience of the Ukrainian people and also praised the Ukrainian government which continues to maintain essential services, despite a drop in revenues.
“Despite a significant drop in revenues, the government has maintained continuity in essential services to its citizens including those outside Ukraine, keeping schools and hospitals open and paying pensions as well as teachers and civil servants’ salaries. Supporting these critical services continues to be a priority, and Ukraine needs about $3-4 billion per month to sustain them," the report said.
The report claimed that the Russian onslaught has undone 15 years of Ukrainian progress and 8 million more people in Ukraine now live in abject poverty.
The help for Ukraine is coming from several quarters with International Monetary Fund (IMF) reaching a staff-level agreement with Ukraine on Tuesday for a four-year financing package of $15.6 billion.
