Last week, entrepreneurs received 254 soft loans totaling UAH 1.6 billion from authorized banks under the Affordable Loans at 5-7-9% State Program, including 131 loans totaling UAH 0.56 billion from public sector banks.

During the period of martial law in Ukraine, 44,929 affordable loans totaling UAH 181.5 billion were issued (including 33,534 loans for UAH 92.2 billion by public sector banks), of which

• UAH 12.92 billion - for investment purposes;
• UAH 8.81 billion - as anti-crisis loans;
• UAH 3.73 billion - as refinancing of previously obtained loans;
• UAH 36.34 billion - as loans for agricultural producers;
• UAH 58.16 billion - for anti-war purposes.

Since the start of the Program, a total of 79,751 loan agreements for a total amount of UAH 271.2 billion have been signed, including 54,010 agreements for UAH 118.9 billion by public sector banks.

The program is being implemented by the Entrepreneurship Development Fund (EDF). The Government of Ukraine, represented by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, is the sole participant of the EDF and coordinates all aspects of the Fund’s activities.

To date, under the Affordable Loans at 5-7-9% State Program the EDF has concluded cooperation agreements with 45 banks. The state continues to make all necessary compensation payments to businesses under the loan agreements concluded within this program.

On December 27 last year, in order to expand the opportunities for entrepreneurs to receive state support, the Government amended the Procedures regulating the provision of financial state support under the 5-7-9% Program at the initiative of the Ministry of Finance. First of all, the restrictions on receiving state support for certain categories of enterprises affected by the hostilities have been 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.

To streamline the State Programs Affordable Loans at 5-7-9% and Affordable Financial Leasing at 5-7-9% under martial law, the Government adopted Resolution No. 229 “On amendments to certain resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on providing financial state support to business entities” dated 14 March 2023.

Also recently, the NBU officially launched the Affordable Factoring Program, a new financial instrument under the State Programme Affordable Loans 5-7-9% to provide micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with working capital.