Distinguished colleagues, fellow Ukrainians!
We start a regular meeting of the Government.
Over the past week, three important events have taken place that are crucial for our stability, victory and European future.
All of them will have consequences in the medium and long term.
The first event is the historic decision of the European Commission that Ukraine is ready to start pre-accession negotiations on EU membership. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen emphasised the progress in the implementation of reforms, noting that during a full-scale war the dynamics of changes is particularly impressive.
"We will continue to move forward with the transformation of Ukraine. We are drafting bills and government decisions. We need these reforms first and foremost. We need them to win, to rebuild, to boost the economy.
The second important event is the adoption of the state budget. Despite the severe consequences of the war, we are optimistic about the future. This year, Ukraine's GDP will grow by more than 4%, and next year we are planning for 4.6% growth. This is taking into account the risks of wartime.
It is essential that our forecasts correlate with the estimates of international financial institutions. In particular, the IMF notes the resilience of the Ukrainian economy and forecasts its growth in 2023 and 2024.
The third important event is the result of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on the revision of the financing programme. We have an agreement at the level of experts, and we expect a positive decision of the IMF Executive Board to further allocate a tranche of USD 900 million.
It is crucial for Ukraine to demonstrate economic recovery.
It is a message to our partners that their support yields concrete results.
It is a signal to domestic and foreign investors that investing in the Ukrainian economy is profitable and promising.
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War risk insurance is an additional incentive for investors to invest in Ukraine. We cooperate with key global institutions that can provide such guarantees.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has already provided insurance coverage worth more than USD 166 million. This is assistance to both the financial and real sectors of the economy. Negotiations are underway to launch new projects.
The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has recently approved five new projects worth USD 380 million. They will focus on food security, small business, healthcare and international trade.
Negotiations with the EBRD on trade insurance are ongoing, with the prospect of scaling up cooperation to include investment insurance.
In addition, export credit agencies of partner countries are willing to cover investment risks for their businesses. Such opportunities exist, in particular, in Japan, Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Poland.
Another strategically important area is free navigation in the Black Sea being the basis for the economic recovery of Ukraine.
First of all, I thank the Ukrainian Defence Forces for keeping this corridor open. Over 100 vessels have already used it, exporting more than 3.7 million tonnes of products from Ukrainian ports.
Following the agreements between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak, Ukraine and a pool of British insurance companies have set up a special mechanism. It will allow for a discount on the cost of war risk insurance for exporters of all products from Ukraine. This will make the Black Sea corridor more accessible to a wider range of exporters.
The Government has allocated funds to guarantee the coverage of losses in case of their occurrence. The mechanism involves the Export Credit Agency, Ukrgasbank, Ukreximbank and a pool of 14 insurers.
We are also grateful for the EBRD's assistance in supporting the creation of this mechanism.
We are constantly working to ensure that Ukrainian exporters have free and competitive conditions for exporting their products. This is essential for Ukraine's economy, for consumers around the world, and especially with regard to food security.
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Ukrainian business is the major driver of recovery and growth, so supporting entrepreneurs is one of the Government's key priorities.
During the full-scale war, businesses have received 40,800 soft loans under the 5-7-9 programme worth UAH 159.8 billion. More than half of the recipients are agrarians, almost a third are industrial enterprises, 15% are trade businesses, and about 5% are services.
The state constantly allots grants under the eRobota programme. UAH 2.1 billion - to start and develop Ukrainians' own businesses, UAH 2.9 billion was allocated for the development of processing enterprises, more than UAH 550 million - to help plant gardens and arrange greenhouses.
We are constantly expanding the network of industrial parks. These are sites with ready-made infrastructure solutions and tax benefits. There are now 70 of them, most of them in Kyiv and Lviv regions. The main specialisation is processing: wood, metallurgy, agricultural products, and mechanical engineering.
in 2024 the Government plans to spend UAH 1 billion on the development of industrial parks: "We expect that industrial parks will be growth points that will help change the structure of the economy from raw materials to processing.
All these support programmes will be in place next year. The state budget for 2024 envisages more than UAH 30 billion for this purpose.
Thus, we are restoring the Ukrainian economy and now laying the foundation for its development and transformation.
Thank you for your attention!
Glory to Ukraine!