Despite some US officials such as CENTCOM chief Gen. Mark Milley last year saying they expect the war in Ukraine likely to be protracted in “years”, not months, which as the conflict is about to enter its 2nd year is proving accurate enough thus far, major banks are already lining up to fund Ukraine’s rebuilding efforts, which is going to be vast and extraordinarily costly – and in reality could take decades.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with bankers from JPMorgan Chase & Co as part of broader talks focused on both reconstructing the war-ravaged country and enduring the extreme financial tumult of the war.
Zelensky signed a memorandum of understanding with America’s largest bank at the close of the talks, with CEO Jamie Dimon announcing “We are proud of our long-standing support of Ukraine and committed to doing our part to lift up the country and its people.”
Dimon then pledged “The full resources of JPMorgan Chase are available to Ukraine as it charts its post-conflict path to growth.”
This as global ratings agency Moody’s also is clearly foreseeing longer-lasting challenges as part of a drawn out conflict with Russia, on Friday downgrading Ukraine’s sovereign rating to ‘Ca’ from ‘Caa3’.
Fox Business cited sources privy to the meetings to reveal they “discussed the creation of a fund seeded with $20 billion to $30 billion in private capital,” also as part of broader efforts to coach the Ukrainian government on how to attract private capital.
A statement by Zelensky’s office hailed in an English statement the meeting “with senior members of the largest investment bank in the world, JP Morgan,” and that others “took part via video link in one of the largest annual investment summits organized by JP Morgan, attended by 200 largest corporations, investors, and financial companies.”
“J.P. Morgan, the nation’s largest bank, has signed a memorandum with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the eye on attracting private capital for a new investment fund to rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure.”
Guess who is going to pay for this.https://t.co/1lmCpYajKA
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 13, 2023
JPMorgan has going back to 2010 been deeply involved in helping Ukraine weather financial crises which predate the war, and last year led a national debt restructuring of more than $20 billion.
