The German government has agreed to provide war-risk insurance to building materials manufacturer Fixit to open a second factory in Ukraine even as fighting continues, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
Fixit, which built its first Ukrainian factory in the western city of Lviv before the full-scale invasion of Russia, will also receive a 12 million euro loan from German bank KfW for the investment, Shmyhal said at a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
"The key to attracting investment is the insurance of military and political risks. We are grateful to the German government and Mr. Scholz personally for the insurance guarantee program for its investors," Shmyhal said. "This encourages companies to invest in Ukraine now, rather than wait for the end of the war."
After a separate meeting, German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said this government has received 30 applications for guarantees from companies seeking to invest in Ukraine.
Shmygal also said France, Japan, Italy, Sweden and the UK have also committed to offering war-risk insurance for their nations' companies and the US plans to do so.
Earlier this month, the Dutch government announced it had earmarked 60 million euros to insure Dutch companies contributing to the reconstruction of Ukraine, covering risks of investments and transactions in the form of export credit insurance.
Also, the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) last month issued its first war-risk guarantees for private investors in Ukraine, providing $9.1 million of coverage for the construction of a warehouse in the western city of Lviv to UIPH Ukrainian Industrial Property Holding Limited of Cyprus.
