The UK government has promised to back a plan by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to create war-risk insurance coverage for companies that want to invest in the rebuilding of Ukraine.
The UK signed a "war-risk insurance Statement of Intent" with the EBRD that aims to "help UK companies to do business in Ukraine," the government said in a press release, without offering further details of the support.
The government said the EBRD plan will "provide new support for boosting the provision of insurance against war-related risks in Ukraine," based on an outline created in June at the international Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.
While offering few details of the EBRD plan, the UK government said it "is intended to kick-start insurance, firstly for the transport of cargo vital via trucks to keeping trade flowing, with a view to expanding it to cover more sectors as the scheme matures."
A major barrier to private foreign investment in the reconstruction of Ukraine, which has started even as the fighting continues, is the lack of insurance against war-related risks.
So far, war-risk insurance offerings to back the reconstruction have been sporadic but increasing, with involvement by foreign governments and multilateral institutions in recent months.
In October, the German government agreed to provide war-risk insurance to building materials manufacturer Fixit to open a factory in Ukraine, the Dutch government earmarked 60 million euros to insure Dutch companies helping rebuild Ukraine and
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said last month that France, Japan, Italy and Sweden have also committed to offering war-risk insurance for their nations' companies and the US plans to do so.
