The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to provide financial assistance to Ukraine’s Grain Alliance Group to support its operations affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As part of this initiative, EBRD will be providing a €7m working capital loan to Grain Alliance Group owned by Sweden’s Claesson & Anderzen.

The funds will be used to support the implementation of the investment programme while the Japanese Government will provide technical assistance.

The working capital loan would enable the group to cultivate more than 50,000h of land in northern Ukraine to mitigate the impact created by the pandemic and help Grain Alliance to implement an investment programme to enhance its grain storage facilities and introduce energy efficiency measures.

In response to the Covid-19 crisis, EBRD also launched two Solidarity Packages and is said to have been planning a total business investment of up to €21bn in 2020-2021 to overcome the economic impact of Covid-19.

EBRD is said to be one of the major international financial investor in Ukraine, which made a cumulative commitment of nearly €15bn through 466 projects in the country.