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The National Development Institution (NDI) continues to play a key role in aligning Ukraine’s state financial support with international best practices. NDI ensures that the updated Affordable Loans 5-7-9% Programme is based on the World Bank’s environmental and social standards.
This was highlighted by Tetiana Tsymbal, Head of NDI’s Environmental and Social Risk Management Unit, during the expert roundtable “New 5-7-9% Rules: Implementing the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Standards for All Borrowers.” The event, organised by the Association of Ukrainian Banks (AUB), NDI and SaveEcoBot, brought together banking sector representatives to discuss the new lending requirements.
Under Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 28, NDI is responsible for assessing and verifying the internal environmental and social risk management systems of each partner bank before granting access to the Programme.
Tetiana Tsymbal stressed that the key objective is not formal compliance, but a fully operational environmental and social risk management system. She also cautioned banks against simply relabelling environmental and social assessments as “ESG assessments”. Together with partners and World Bank experts, NDI has developed a standardised questionnaire focused on the environmental and social safety of specific business projects receiving financing.
As a coordinating and oversight institution, NDI ensures consistent and transparent requirements across the banking sector. It monitors initial loan portfolios, assesses the quality of banks’ decisions, helps prevent regulatory arbitrage and provides ongoing expert support to partner banks.
The shared goal of NDI and the banking sector is to ensure that every hryvnia of state support contributes to Ukraine’s sustainable, transparent and environmentally responsible economic recovery.