The World Bank has decided to accelerate the preparation of the third Development Policy Loan (Development Policy Loan III) for Ukraine.

The World Bank announced this in a statement.

«...The World Bank is accelerating the preparation of the Development Policy Loan III, which provides funding to the Ukrainian government budget in support of critical structural reforms to mitigate the effects of the [global financial] crisis and lay the foundations for a rapid return to economic growth,» the statement said.

The World Bank has also started work on a loan for rehabilitation of the Ukrainian banking sector.

«[The banking-sector rehabilitation loan], which would assist the government in putting in place a strong bank recapitalization framework and provide funding to the budget to support specific bank resolution or recapitalization cases,» the statement said.

In general, the World Bank is preparing a package of financial assistance to Ukraine in response to the global financial crisis impacting the country.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the World Bank announced in May 2008 that it might disburse USD 300-400 million to Ukraine as the Development Policy Loan III by July 2009.

In July 2005, the World Bank disbursed USD 250 million to Ukraine as the Development Policy Loan I and disbursed USD 300 million as the Development Policy Loan II.