Chancellor Olaf Scholz has told a Ukraine donor conference in Berlin that efforts to rebuild the war-torn country “must begin now”.
Participants at the conference, hosted by Germany and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, heard that repairing the damage caused by nine months of war to date will cost $750 billion (€753bn). The World Bank estimates reconstruction costs alone at $349 billion.
“We do not know when this war will end. But end it will,” said Mr Scholz in his opening remarks. “And when it does, we will continue to stand by Ukraine and its struggle for security, freedom and democracy.”
The conference — attended by government representatives, international organisations, civil society representatives and reconstruction experts — is focused more on agreeing sustainable tools for reconstruction rather than collecting financial pledges.
The German leader hopes to draft a blueprint for a “Marshall Plan for the 21st century”, referencing the post-1945 plan to rebuild Germany.
In an opinion piece for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, Mr Scholz said that his homeland had learned, even after its wartime devastation, that “reconstruction is always possible and that it is never too soon to tackle this task”.
In video remarks to the conference president Volodimir Zelenskyy said those who “invest in the reconstruction of Ukraine are investing in the reconstruction of a future member of the EU”.
But with $17 billion in funding required to cover a “fast recovery plan” for critical infrastructure, he warned that Ukraine “hasn’t received a single cent for the implementation”. Nor was it clear how Kyiv will cover its looming budget deficit of $38 billion next year.
“At this very conference we need to make a decision on assistance to cover next year’s budget deficit for Ukraine,” he said. “It’s a very significant amount of money.”
Ms von der Leyen reiterated the EU’s commitment to helping Ukraine both with post-war rebuilding work and daily survival, including paying wages and pensions.
Noting Ukraine’s EU candidate status, she urged existing member states to view their contributions as a way to “firmly embed Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts as part of its path toward the European Union”.
“We have no time to waste, the scale of destruction is staggering,” she said.
According to the IMF, an increase in Russian bombing could see Ukraine’s external financing needs reach $5 billion a month.
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said that, in a best-case scenario, Ukraine’s financial needs would be $3 billion a month.
In “exceptionally difficult times”, she said Ukraine was “doing a really good job in making every cent — every hryvnia, I should say — count.”
On Monday, at a Ukrainian-German economic forum in Berlin, Mr Scholz pledged to step up bilateral German investment in its eastern neighbour.
Experts told the forum that initial emergency aid efforts to rebuild damaged and destroyed infrastructure should be followed by “targeted measures and suitable framework conditions for reconstruction of the economy”.
“Companies need reliable contacts, quick tenders and approval processes, as well as financial and legal security,” said Michael Harms, managing director of the Marshall Fund.
