Private sector to play important role in Ukraine reconstruction – World Bank

World Bank Group President Ajay Banga speaks during an interview with AFP at the IMF/World Bank Group Spring Meetings at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, on April 25, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

WASHINGTON, United States — The private sector has an important role to play in Ukraine’s reconstruction once a peace deal is agreed, the president of the World Bank told AFP in an interview on Friday.

“Over the last three or four years, almost $50 billion plus has come from these countries to us, to go to Ukraine,” World Bank President Ajay Banga said, referring to countries allied with Kyiv.

Now in its fourth year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands dead, and devastated key infrastructure across the country, something that will cost a vast sum of money to repair once a peal deal is reached.

Banga said the World Bank’s latest damage need assessment estimates that the cost of reconstructing Ukraine over the next decade will come to more than $500 billion.

“Just to be clear, that’s three times the GDP of Ukraine,” he said on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings in Washington, which the bank co-hosts with the International Monetary Fund.

“So this is not going to come as business as usual.”

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Close to a third of the reconstruction funds can come from private capital, Banga said, adding that Ukraine’s reform programs over the past few years made attracting that money easier.

“During three years of war, Ukraine has actually invested in reforming its economy,” he said, pointing to the government’s reforms to state-owned enterprises, and the judicial system.

“The first six months will be managing through the crisis of changing from war time to peace time,” Banga said. “But then there’ll be: how do you get going on the investments in Ukraine?”

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