Last week, entrepreneurs received 339 soft loans totaling UAH 1.4 billion from authorized banks under the state program "Affordable Loans 5-7-9%", including 234 loans worth UAH 0.7 billion from public sector banks. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, UNN reports.
Details
According to the Finance Ministry, during the period of martial law in Ukraine, a total of 46 579 affordable loans totaling UAH 187.2 billion were issued (including 34 693 loans for UAH 95.1 billion by public sector banks).
The Ministry of Finance has estimated that as of February 19 this year, the allocated funds have been used in the following areas:
- UAH 13.87 billion for investment purposes;
- UAH 8.85 billion as anti-crisis loans;
- UAH 3.72 billion as refinancing of previously obtained loans;
- UAH 36.48 billion in loans to agricultural producers;
- UAH 57.8 billion for anti-war purposes.
Since the start of the Program, a total of 81 401 loan agreements totaling UAH 276.9 billion have been signed, including 55 169 agreements for UAH 121.8 billion by public sector banks.
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The Ministry reminded that the program "Affordable Loans 5-7-9%" is implemented by the Entrepreneurship Development Fund (EDF), whose sole participant is the Government of Ukraine represented by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, which coordinates all aspects of the Fund's activities.
Currently, 45 banks operate under this government program.
On December 27 last year, in order to expand the opportunities for entrepreneurs to receive state support, the Government, at the initiative of the Ministry of Finance , amended the Procedures governing the provision of financial state support under the 5-7-9% Program . First of all, restrictions on receiving state support for certain categories of enterprises affected by the hostilities were lifted. In addition, as part of the agreements with the IMF, the amendments provide for the focus of the 5-7-9% Program exclusively on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Ministry also recalled that in order to optimize the State Programs "Affordable Loans 5-7-9%" and "Affordable Financial Leasing 5-7-9%" under martial law, the Government adopted Resolution of March 2023 No. 229 "On Amendments to Certain Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Providing Financial State Support to Business Entities".
It is also advised to take into account the fact that at the end of last year, the Affordable Factoring Program was officially launched, a new financial instrument under the State Program "Affordable Loans 5-7-9%" to provide micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with working capital.