The government has optimized the financing of lending and leasing programs for businesses. Agribusiness loan deadlines have been extended and rates have been changed.
On Tuesday, March 14, the Cabinet of Ministers agreed on the optimization of the state programs “Affordable loans 5-7-9%” and “Affordable financial leasing 5-7-9%”. This is reported by the Ministry of Finance.
It is reported that the possibility of obtaining loans and leasing at compensatory rates at 0% per annum was canceled, the government banned the issuance of loans in order to overcome the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the refinancing of such loans.
“In this way, the state budget expenditures for financing these programs will be optimized in accordance with the challenges of the time, directing funding to more relevant areas, ensuring continuous financing in the face of rising market interest rates on loans and the loan portfolio,” the Finance Ministry said.
Also, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine extended the terms for issuing loans for agricultural production, as part of campaign financing, including with the possibility of prolonging loans provided that large and medium-sized agribusinesses repay up to 25% of loans and with the possibility of providing state guarantees.
The conditions for “Affordable loans 5-7-9%” have been changed as follows:
for medium and large enterprises, the compensatory rate on loans for investment purposes will be 9% per annum with the possibility of reducing when creating new jobs up to 7%; for micro and small enterprises, the rate will be 7% with the possibility of reducing for investment loans up to 5%; for loans for replenishment of working capital for all enterprises – 9% per annum.
At the same time, for “Affordable financial leasing 5-7-9%” the rates will be as follows:
for medium and large enterprises – 11% per annum with the possibility of reduction to 9%; for micro and small enterprises – 9% per annum with the possibility of reduction to 7%.
Earlier, Focus said that Ukrainians, against the background of the war, massively do not return loans to banks. Thus, during the full-scale invasion, the share of non-performing loans (NPL, overdue by 90 days or more) increased from 34 to 39% of the total number of loans.
We also recall that in February 2023, the average interest rates on new bank loans for the population in the national currency increased by 0.3 percentage points (p.p.) and amounted to 36% per annum.
