by Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Russian invasion has cost Ukraine more than $97 billion (96.58 billion euros) in direct damage to Ukraine as of June 1, and rebuilding the country could require nearly $350 billion , according to a report published Friday by the World Bank, the Ukrainian government and the European Commission.
According to the report, the consequences for Ukraine’s economy and production, as well as additional war-related expenses, resulted in losses of $252 billion. The displacement of a third of Ukrainians is expected to push the country’s poverty rate to 21%, from just 2% before the war.
For its reconstruction, Ukraine will also need 349 billion dollars, according to an estimate as of June 1, or about 1.6 times its gross domestic product of 200 billion dollars in 2021, adds the report.
This amount includes 105 billion dollars needed in the short term to respond to emergencies, such as the reconstruction of thousands of damaged or destroyed schools and more than 500 hospitals. The repair of houses, the restoration of heating and the supply of gas at the approach of a winter which is likely to be harsh, are just as imperative.
The published figures are preliminary, the report notes, and likely to increase as the war continues.
“The impact of the invasion will be felt for generations, with displaced and separated families, disruption of human development, destruction of intrinsic cultural heritage and reversal of a positive economic and social trajectory. poverty,” the report said.
Arup Banerji, the World Bank’s regional director for Eastern Europe, said the findings, based on a “very robust” internationally recognized methodology, should be on the menu of the Group of Seven conference on relaunch scheduled for October 25 in Berlin.
Initial estimates made by Ukraine, which put the cost of rebuilding the country’s economy at $750 billion, were likely extrapolations of economic damage and loss, but the exact methodology used to arrive at this estimate is not was unclear, he added.
(Report Andrea Shalal; French version Dagmarah Mackos)