IFC and PrivatBank Partner to Scale up Lending to Smaller Businesses, Enhance Import of Critical Goods in Ukraine

• A new risk-sharing facility will boost lending for smaller businesses, especially for agribusinesses and women-owned enterprises, helping them maintain production, create jobs, and grow.
• IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program will help PrivatBank expand financing for cross-border trade, including the import of critical goods, and broaden its correspondent-banking network—connecting businesses to global markets.

Kyiv, Ukraine, September 8, 2025—IFC and PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest bank, have launched a $100 million risk-sharing facility (RSF) to expand financing for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as businesses continue to contend with the effects of Russia’s invasion. The instrument will boost lending across various sectors, including agribusiness, manufacturing, and logistics, with a focus on women-owned businesses, to support jobs and economic recovery.

PrivatBank is also joining IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP), which helps local banks expand financing for cross-border trade by offering payment risk guarantees and managing payment risks. As part of this partnership, IFC will provide a $20 million trade finance guarantee facility to PrivatBank, enabling the bank to finance more imports and exports, increase partnerships with international banks, and support Ukrainian businesses in reaching new global markets.

While Ukraine’s financial sector has shown resilience during the ongoing invasion, access to affordable finance for businesses remains limited due to the high security and economic risks. Corporate loans fell from around 13 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021 to 10 percent in 2024, amplifying a continuous decline observed since 2014. MSMEs, which make up over 99 percent of registered businesses and employ around 75 percent of the workforce, are particularly vulnerable, with 34 percent fully credit-constrained and 23 percent partially constrained in 2024.  

Following Russia’s invasion, foreign banks sharply reduced their exposure to Ukraine, making trade finance scarce. Restarting trade finance and connecting foreign banks to the Ukrainian banking sector was essential to keep goods flowing and supporting food security, agribusiness, and uninterrupted services for the population.  IFC, through GTFP, has been helping facilitate trade finance in Ukraine during turbulent times and has significantly increased its support to Ukraine over the past few years.

Under the RSF, IFC will assume up to 50 percent of the credit risk, with a maximum exposure of $50 million. The facility is complemented by a performance-based incentive to increase lending to women-owned MSMEs, which are expected to make up about 35 percent of the portfolio. IFC’s participation in this facility and the performance-based incentive are supported by France and the Netherlands through IFC’s Economic Resilience Action (ERA) Program for Ukraine.

“The beginning of cooperation between IFC and PrivatBank is truly historic. These are the first agreements between our institutions. I am confident they will expand lending opportunities, and make financing more accessible,” said Mikael Bjorknert, Chairman of the Management Board of PrivatBank. “As the largest bank in the country, serving almost 60 percent of Ukrainian entrepreneurs’ accounts, we are convinced that our partnership with IFC will help Ukrainian MSMEs scale their operations, enter new markets and, as a result, contribute to the country’s economic resilience.”

RSFs allow IFC’s partner financial institutions to share the credit risk on portfolios of eligible credit instruments, helping to support new financing—particularly in volatile markets. In total, IFC’s RSF program in Ukraine, including the project with PrivatBank, is expected to enable approximately $1 billion in new lending to private-sector businesses.

“Our work with PrivatBank is about making sure Ukraine’s entrepreneurs—especially smaller firms and women-led businesses—can keep moving forward despite the challenges,” said Ines Rocha, IFC’s Division Director for Europe. “With innovative trade finance and risk-sharing tools, we’re helping open doors to new opportunities so businesses can create jobs and contribute to Ukraine’s recovery. This first engagement with PrivatBank is expected to launch a strong partnership built on our shared commitment to private sector growth.”

These efforts are part of IFC’s ERA Program for Ukraine, an operational framework for IFC’s near-term investments and advisory work to assist the Ukrainian private sector following Russia’s invasion. The response package includes financing at IFC’s own risk and blended finance support from multiple development partners to mitigate risk. For more on IFC’s ERA Program for Ukraine, see here. Since February 2022, IFC has delivered $2.6 billion to support Ukraine's private sector, including $990 million in mobilized financing.  

IFC’s work in Ukraine is part of the World Bank Group's response package, which has assisted more than 20 million Ukrainians by helping businesses stay afloat and enabling the government to provide essential services, pay wages, keep schools and hospitals open, and carry out critical repairs.