WASHINGTON (AP) – The World Bank approved a $99.4 million (85 million euro) loan to help Ukraine modernize and improve the system for distributing welfare benefits to its citizens.
The three-year project aims to transform the former Soviet republic’s currently unwieldy social assistance network to a more unified and streamlined structure, the lending institution said Thursday.
“The network of 754 local welfare offices is poorly equipped with technology and inadequately staffed, making effective means-testing of benefits almost impossible,” the World Bank said in a release.
Among the project’s goals are to increase coverage to the poor, make the administration of benefits more easily accessible to clients and improve overall program efficiency, the World Bank said.
