At its Meeting held on May 2, 2017 the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank approved extension of loan to Ukreximbank under the sovereign guarantee of Ukraine in the amount of USD 150 million and for the term of up to 35 years for implementation of the Access To Long Term Finance Project. Ukreximbank will act as the direct borrower and implementing agency under the Project.

The objective of the Access To Long Term Finance Project is to improve access by the export-oriented SMEs to long term finance.

Under the Project the export oriented SMEs will use long-term financing to implement their investment projects and meet working capital requirements. For this purpose, Ukreximbank will allocate loan funds both directly to SMEs and through on-lending to other Ukrainian banks. This, in turn, will facilitate growth of number of SMEs involved in the Project from various regions and sectors of the economy, improvement of capacity of the banking sector in terms of SMEs financing and expansion of the lending products range offered by private financial institutions.

Mr. Oleksandr Hrytsenko, Chairman of the Board of Ukreximbank, in his comments in respect of final approval by the World Bank of the decision concerning the Access To Long Term Finance Project, mentioned that: “Considering that the World Bank is a reliable partner in reforming of our country, it is vital for the state-owned Ukreximbank to further develop fruitful cooperation with it. Our cooperation with the World Bank over the last twenty years contributed to creation of hundreds of success stories of Ukrainian companies, manufacturers and exporters involved in joint export development and energy efficiency projects. Ukreximbank will continue to provide reliable loan support to export oriented SMEs of the real sector of economy in order to ensure their modernization and access to foreign markets.”