The Ministry of Economy implements a number of programs aimed at supporting domestic business. This was noted by Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Nadiia Bihun during her speech at the First National Forum “Helping Businesses in Wartime: National and Regional Aspects” in Lviv.

“Ukrainian manufacturer is the engine thanks to which our economy survived now, during the war, and which will work on the restoration of the country after the victory. Therefore, the Ministry of Economy supports domestic business and its development, in particular, we are currently implementing a number of programs for this purpose. We focus on providing enterprises with access to finance, public contracts, support for the re-equipment and restoration of capacities,” Nadiia Bihun said.

According to her, business is actively using the opportunity to obtain affordable loans under the 5-7-9% Affordable Loans program, under which UAH 203 billion has already been granted. In the near future, it will be modernized to meet the needs of businesses operating in the de-occupied territories and processing enterprises. In particular, it is proposed to lower the loan interest rate for them and increase the coverage of portfolio guarantees.

In addition, the system of public procurement, which in the current conditions can be a significant lever for helping small and medium-sized businesses as a source of orders, is being improved. Almost 1.5 million tenders with an expected value of UAH 457 billion have been held since the beginning of the current year alone. The current amount of public procurement contracts amounted to UAH 302 billion.

Nadiia Bihun also reminded that entrepreneurs have the opportunity to use grant programs for business start-up and development within the framework of the Government’s eRobota project. And in this area, special attention is paid to companies in the processing industry that manufacture high added value products. For nearly a year of the grant program, 357 companies have already received funds from the state for a total amount of almost UAH 2 billion.

It should be noted that the business forum in Lviv is being held with the assistance of the USAID Economic Support of Ukraine project and the reform support team of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.