The banking system is ready to support projects to restore power generation – National bank of Ukraine

He reminded that the country is currently facing a significant electricity shortage due to the destruction of the energy system as a result of targeted missile attacks. Therefore, the potential need for financing in this area is very high.

According to him, the banking system’s capabilities lie in the area of lending. This could be:

• credit support for projects to build a large number of small generation facilities distributed across the country, which are relatively safe in terms of risk concentration and the threat of asset destruction
• much larger projects that can be financed, for example, through consortium lending, where banks pool capital and share risks among themselves.

“We are analyzing various options and, for our part, are ready to adapt certain requirements for banks so that the relevant projects move as quickly as possible,” Pyshnyi emphasized.

The NBU has already started discussing this issue with banks with foreign capital that have significant financial potential and expertise, the NBU governor said.

He thanked the banks’ representatives for accepting our message and for being ready to conduct in-depth preparatory work at the staff level to identify the available opportunities and the most critical areas to which they could potentially be applied.

“The banking sector is already doing what it can and should do, but objectively, the demand for investment business loans is recovering rather slowly. We need real projects!” Pyshnyi emphasized.

He added that this is a complex and difficult issue: demand can be expected to be boosted by maximizing the simplification of administrative and permitting procedures and a separate state support program, creating competence centers that combine the technical and permitting expertise of government institutions, regional aspects, and financial capabilities.