0730 GMT — Rebuilding Ukraine like to cost $486B: World Bank
Rebuilding Ukraine’s economy after Russia’s offensive nearly two years ago is expected to cost $486 billion, 2.8 times its 2023 expected economic output, a new study by the World Bank, United Nations, European Commission and the Ukrainian government has found.
The estimate released Thursday covers the period from Russia’s attack on February 24, 2022 through December 31, 2023 and quantifies the direct physical damage to buildings and other infrastructure, the impact on people’s lives and livelihoods and the cost to “build back better,” the World Bank said.
That 10-year cost estimate is up from $411 billion last March, with housing needs topping the list at $80 billion or 17 percent, followed by transport needs of $74 billion or 15 percent, and commerce and industry at $67.5 billion, or 14 percent.
“The $486 billion is an unfathomably large amount, and, of course, it reflects real needs,” said Arup Banerji, World Bank regional country director for Eastern Europe, although he noted that the high rate of damages seen in the first months of the war had slowed sharply.