Ukraine receives nearly $600 mln under World Bank SPIRIT project to support vulnerable groups
The financing includes 300 million US dollars in a loan backed by Japanese guarantees under the ADVANCE Ukraine Trust Fund, as well as 298.75 million US dollars in a loan backed by bilateral guarantees from the Government of the United Kingdom.
Ukraine directed the financing to the general fund of the State Budget to reimburse expenditures related to social payments for the most vulnerable groups of the population, provided that the country meets the result-based conditions set out in the loan agreement.
In particular, the Government has so far fulfilled three conditions:
The total volume of the SPIRIT project is 880 million US dollars, including an 860 million US dollar IBRD loan and 20 million US dollars in grant financing through the Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund (URTF).
The project aims to support reforms in social protection, including:
In particular, the SPIRIT project will support the introduction of basic social assistance, the creation of a unified system for the assignment and payment of social benefits, expanded access to social services in communities, and the modernization of mechanisms to support the employment of people with disabilities.
Financing under the project will cover 18 types of social payments. In addition, the grant component of the project will help strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Social Policy, the Pension Fund of Ukraine, and the Fund for Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities, including through IT infrastructure modernization, training for social workers, and support for the development of social services at the community level.
Background
The SPIRIT project will run from 2026 to 2030 and will serve as an important tool for strengthening Ukraine's social protection system's resilience under martial law and during postwar recovery.
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1 of July 2026
