The World Bank announced on Monday that it had approved a $723 million emergency financial package for Ukraine as the country wards off a Russian invasion.
The Financing of Recovery from Economic Emergency in Ukraine, or FREE Ukraine, package contains loans and grants pledged by several countries that aim to help the Ukrainian government provide “critical services,” according to the World Bank.
“The World Bank Group stands with the people of Ukraine and the region. This is the first of many steps we are taking to help address the far-reaching human and economic impacts of this crisis,” World Bank President David Malpass wrote in a statement.
FREE Ukraine includes a $350 million World Bank loan, $139 million in loan guarantees from the Netherlands and Sweden, $134 million in grants from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, and Iceland, and $100 million in financing from Japan.
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The World Bank listed wages for hospital workers, pensions for the elderly, and social programs for the vulnerable as some of the services the financial package aims to support in Ukraine.
The funds are expected to be transferred to Ukraine’s government in the next few days.
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The World Bank said in a press release that it is also preparing a $3 billion package for Ukraine in the coming months and additional support to neighboring countries receiving Ukrainian refugees.
The United Nations estimates that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in at least 1,207 civilian casualties and a surge of 1.7 million refugees out of Ukraine.
