The German government proposed a 15-point package of support for Ukraine's economic reconstruction in a new paper released on Wednesday.
The proposed measures are centred on financial subsidies and low-interest loans for small- and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine as well as investment guarantees for German companies interest in doing business there, the Development Ministry announced on Wednesday.
The ministry said it is working with the Ukrainian government to create a financial institution for rebuilding Ukraine modelled after the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), a state-owned investment bank formed after World War II to rebuild West Germany.
"Ukraine needs more than weapons to survive this war. It is also important that the economy continues to function and that the country can finance reconstruction," said Development Minister Svenja Schulze.
She said that West Germany's experience with the KfW credit institution showed that favourable financing for small- and mid-sized companies is one of the most effective measures for reconstruction.
The KfW, Schulze said, was "an enabler of the economic miracle of the 1950s and 1960s."
The World Bank currently estimates the costs of reconstruction in Ukraine at around $486 billion.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said that every opportunity should be used to help the Ukrainian economy in these difficult times and to open up prospects for growth and investment.
"Public funds alone will not be enough for reconstruction. That is why the German government is focusing on involving the private sector more in the reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine," Habeck said.
The issues paper is a contribution to the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which will take place in Berlin on June 11 and 12. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are jointly hosting the conference.
