81322945-Technical Support for Ukraine"s Financial Sector on its Reform and EU Accession Path

Ukraine's economy has faced significant challenges due to the ongoing war, resulting in a significant GDP contraction and only a modest growth forecast of about 2% for 2025. The country is now in its fourth year of operating under wartime conditions, with over 3.6 million internally displaced people and about 5.8 million refugees as of late 2024 and October 2025 respectively. These displacements destabilize households and local economies, while repeated Russian attacks have damaged critical infrastructure, particularly in the heating and energy sectors, affecting production across various industries. Additionally, financing for companies remains constrained also due to war-related risks. Despite these challenges, Ukraine sees potential for economic and financial sector reforms driven by its EU accession aspirations. The Ukraine Plan outlines the government's vision for recovery, reconstruction, and modernisation, aiming to foster the necessary reforms for EU integration. This plan also serves as the basis for funding from the EU's Ukraine Facility, supporting reforms in the economy and financial sector until 2027. Ukraine"s financial sector is undergoing a significant transformation as part of the EU accession process, with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and financial sector associations playing a key role in aligning and implementing national regulation with EU requirements. The international cooperation programme STEP IN 2 EU is co-funded by the German and Norwegian Governments, and the European Union under its EU4Business initiative and implemented by the German federal company "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH". The programme aims to support the Government of Ukraine in the EU accession progress on economic chapters and create better economic conditions and financing options for Ukrainian companies to benefit from integrating into the EU single market. The overall objective of the Programme is: "The economic policy environment for the EU Single Market integration of Ukrainian businesses, including financing options, has improved." The expected outputs are: - Output 1: "The institutional capacities of the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine (MEEA), National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and other relevant actors for drafting economic policy reforms for the EU single market integration of Ukrainian businesses have been strengthened." - Output 2: "Implementation of economic policy reforms to support single market integration of Ukrainian businesses and financial institutions has improved." - Output 3: "The location-based conditions for prioritised sectors in selected regions have improved." - Output 4: "The capacity of selected financial institutions to provide financial services for Ukrainian businesses has improved." This tender covers output 1, 2 and 4 focused on technical support for Ukraine"s financial sector on its reform and EU Accession path as well as improving small and medium sized enterprises" (SME) access to financial services.