The bank said the funds would be used to support the continuation of basic government services, including salaries for hospital staff, pensions for the elderly and social programs for the vulnerable. Raising the World Bank’s total support to Ukraine and neighboring countries to about $ 2 billion, he said the final round of funding was possible after securing approval by the International Development Association on Monday. Announcing the funds in a speech in Poland on Tuesday, World Bank President David Malpas said the agency provides direct working capital to companies supplying critical supplies to Ukraine. “We are working to help the Ukrainian refugees as they plan to return home, to help the host communities as they absorb the Ukrainians and to help the many millions of internally displaced persons in Ukraine who have lost their homes and livelihoods,” he said. The Washington-based institution, founded in 1944 to help Europe rebuild after World War II, includes Russia and Ukraine as members. Malpas, who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Munich before the outbreak of the war, said the bank was “ready to assist Ukraine in reconstruction when the time comes”. The head of the World Development Organization said he was analyzing the effects of the ongoing war, including rising food and energy prices, which are expected to have a significant impact on low-income countries around the world. “[We are] “preparing an outbreak crisis response that will provide focused support to developing countries.” Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk The World Trade Organization downgraded its forecast for world trade growth for the year, saying the outlook for the world economy had darkened since the start of the war on February 24. With sweeping sanctions imposed by Western allies in response to Putin’s war, the Russian economy is expected to plunge deep into recession. A former Russian finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, said the economy had been in the biggest contraction since 1994, when the country struggled to recover from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Kremlin’s economy and finance ministers are working on new forecasts, the state-run RIA news agency reported. “The official forecast will be a larger than about 10% contraction,” said Kudrin, who served as Putin’s finance minister from 2000 to 2011, according to the report.
