Good afternoon, esteemed colleagues, dear Ukrainians.

Due to the full-scale aggression of russia, 2022 has become the most difficult year for the Ukrainian economy. The preliminary estimate of GDP decline, according to the Ministry of Economy, is 30.4%. Despite such a significant decrease, it is better than all our previous forecasts.

When russia started terrorist shelling of our critical infrastructure, there were significant fears that the economy could fall by 35-40%. This did not happen. Air defense forces managed to shoot down most of the russian missiles. Power engineers managed to keep our energy system integral. The Government, for its part, worked with partners to obtain batches of generators, transformers and other equipment necessary for the repair of power grids.

Ukrainian business has once again shown its incredible adaptability. Almost 670,000 generators of various capacities were imported. The Government has introduced zero customs clearance for small generators, and also provided the business with an opportunity to obtain a loan for such generators at 0% for up to 5 years.

At the same time, russia continues to strike at our energy sector. Within 5 days of the new year, the enemy carried out two drone attacks, resulting in damage to generation facilities and transmission power grids. Shelling of energy facilities in the East and South also continued.

Warm weather and holidays contributed to a decrease in consumption, which allowed us to avoid outages during the New Year holidays. However, yesterday, January 5, consumption increased, so scheduled shutdowns were introduced in the central and eastern regions, as well as in Odesa, Lviv, Dnipro.

Starting today, a significant cold snap is expected. Accordingly, consumption will increase, and so will the deficit in the power system.

Besides, the enemy is ready to launch another missile strike on civilian and energy infrastructure. Therefore, we must all be ready to resume emergency shutdowns.

***

Despite the continued hostilities and enemy attacks, we will do everything possible to make 2023 the first step towards a great recovery of the Ukrainian economy.

In 2022, we did the impossible and financed absolutely all budget expenditures. In total, these expenditures amounted to about UAH 2.7 trillion.

Last year, Ukrainian citizens and businesses paid over UAH 900 billion to the state budget. Another 425 billion was paid to the Pension Fund and social insurance funds. We received about UAH 1 trillion from our international partners.

If we talk about the largest level of assistance, UAH 410 billion was provided by the United States.

UAH 390 billion was contributed by the European Union and its institutions together with the European Investment Bank.

UAH 88 billion was received from the IMF.

UAH 60 billion from Canada.

UAH 35 billion from the United Kingdom.

UAH 34 billion from the World Bank.

UAH 17 billion from Japan.

There were also other contributions from many partners.

We are grateful to the governments and people of all countries that supported Ukraine financially last year. Thanks to this, we did not delay pensions, social payments, salaries of teachers or doctors for a single day. We have financed all these expenses in full and on time.

Almost UAH 600 billion has been received through the issue of military bonds. We are grateful to the citizens and businesses who bought these bonds and thus invested in a strong army and a stable state.

Summing up the results of 2022, I would also like to thank Ukrainian business, which paid UAH 80 billion more in taxes than in the peaceful year of 2021.

Your resilience, patriotism, adaptability and social responsibility have kept Ukraine’s economy afloat.

The year of 2023 should become a year of our victory and a year to start our economic recovery. We are working together for this.

The Government will continue to support the private sector. Concessional lending programs will be continued, in particular for the recovery of business. The eRobota grant program will also be extended. Regulatory and fiscal incentives within the framework of Diia City, industrial parks and investments nannies will also continue.

The key task remains to extend the economic visa-free regime with the EU, which removed all duties and quotas on Ukrainian products exported to Europe. Logistics and new export routes will also be among the priorities.

Finally, I would like to return to several important points regarding the situation in the energy sector.

The energy system of Ukraine works stably, repairs continue, there are almost no emergency shutdowns now. There are 11.7 billion cubic meters of gas in underground gas storage facilities. There are 1.2 million tonnes of coal in stock. There is money and assistance from partners to additionally purchase the necessary resources.

In 2.5 months after the start of the heating season, we can say that we are successfully overcoming the challenges of winter. We will do everything to keep it that way.

Thank you for your attention. Glory to Ukraine!