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Ukraine's losses from Russian invasion exceeded $100bn, half of enterprises shut down, - the Adviser to the President

The Adviser to the President suggests directing Russian oligarchs' frozen money to restore these destructions.

Ukraine's losses from destruction due to Russia's military invasion are at least $100bn and the war has led to the complete shutdown of half of Ukraine's enterprises.

The Advisor to the President, Oleg Ustenko advised this during an online discussion organized by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

"Currently, about 50% of our businesses do not work. Other companies are working at the limit of their capabilities," Ustenko said. According to preliminary estimates, the cost of destruction, including infrastructure, hospitals, and residential buildings, reached $100bn, but this is an approximation. Also, Ustenko said that Russian assets frozen in different countries, including the reserves of the Russian central bank, should be used to finance the restoration of these destruction in Ukraine.

The Advisor to the President also noted the possibility of using the siezed assets of Russian oligarchs for this purpose. In Germany, people raised more than 100 million euros for Ukraine - Volodymyr Klychko.

Earlier, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Serhiy Nikolaichuk, in an interview with Bloomberg, estimated the GDP declined at 50% in the days after Russia's war on 24 February 2022. The Head of the National Bank, Kyryl Shevchenko, recently said that war actions and massive shelling have affected more than ten regions and the city of Kyiv, which accounted for more than half of the country's GDP. "An accurate forecast of GDP can be made only after the end of war actions," he said.

Shevchenko also stressed that the impact of the war on economic sectors is uneven. The services sector suffered the most, while some industries reoriented production under martial law to manufacture goods for country protection (food and textile industry, mechanical engineering, production of building materials). He thinks this may reduce the impact of the war on the economy to some extent.

In 2021, Ukraine's GDP was about $200bn. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the state was creating new reserves and accumulating resources so that the army would be provided with everything necessary for both defense and further liberation of the occupied territories.

The IMF has already transferred $1.4bn as emergency aid to Ukraine. Earlier, the EBRD provided 2bn euros to assist Ukraine and countries that accept refugees from Ukraine. In addition, the World Bank has allocated an additional $723m to Ukraine to "get out of the economic emergency."

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