The Government has allocated at least UAH 73 million for businesses in Donetsk region in 2024 under the Made in Ukraine policy. These funds will be used to provide grants, compensate interest rates on soft loans, reimburse farmers for the purchase of Ukrainian agricultural machinery and other programmes under the Made in Ukraine policy. This was announced by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, during her working visit to Donetsk region.

“It is extremely important for us to support entrepreneurs in the frontline regions, because the businesses that have remained operating in these areas not only support the economy but also provide jobs for people. During the meeting with local businesses, we discussed the possibility of obtaining financing under the Affordable Loans at 5-7-9 programme on terms where the state or our international partners provide collateral.

We are working with the banking sector to encourage it to resume lending to the frontline areas. For these regions, the terms of the Affordable Loans at 5-7-9 programme have been improved – loan rates have been reduced to 1% for the first two years, and then the rate will be 5% for investment purposes and 3% for working capital financing. The programme’s funding limits have been increased to UAH 150 million, and loan terms have been extended to 10 years. In addition, we discussed the possibility of using the available loans to restore the energy capacity of businesses. We also reviewed other programmes under the Made in Ukraine policy, such as grants for processing, compensation for farmers for the purchase of domestic machinery, problematic issues and how they can be resolved,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

According to the First Deputy Prime Minister, the UAH 73 million allocated to support entrepreneurs in Donetsk region is not a limit, as the more actively businesses in the region apply for support programmes, the more funds they will be able to receive.

Despite all the difficulties associated with the war, business activity in the region is gradually recovering. According to the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, the number of legal entities that paid taxes in January-April 2024 increased by 3.7% (to 4,683) compared to the same period last year. The number of individual entrepreneurs who paid taxes in the first four months of this year increased by 32.8% to 19,478.

The strategic goal of the Government’s Made in Ukraine policy is to change the structure of the Ukrainian economy, increase the production of value-added goods and double the share of the manufacturing industry in GDP to 20%, in particular through the development of production and an increase in non-resource exports.