FEU: Ukrainian defense industry capabilities are growing, arms exports will allow to replenish budget by $2 billion
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, Ukrainian arms exports have not actually been carried out, but the capabilities of the Ukrainian defense industry are constantly growing.
This was announced on Facebook by Dmytro Oliinyk, Chairman of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, Censor.NET reports.
"The opening of military exports is an important step that can not only strengthen Ukraine's economic stability, provide additional budget revenues, but also support the development of the national defense industry in difficult war conditions. This is the idea that FEU Defense brought to the Presidential Council on Business Protection for consideration," he said.
Documents are currently being prepared to present a common position on this initiative.
According to Oliynyk, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, there have been no exports of Ukrainian weapons, although there are no legal prohibitions on this. At the same time, the capabilities of the Ukrainian defense industry are constantly growing.
"The total production capacity of Ukraine's defense industry enterprises is currently about $18 billion with an upward trend. The volume of orders from national producers from the components of the security and defense forces is about $6 billion.
Unused production capacity is about $12 billion. The state needs, but does not have the financial resources to utilize these production capacities to buy back the weapons and military equipment, even though 100% of all fees and payments to the budget of Ukraine go to meet the needs of the security and defense forces," he explained.
The FEU stands for the opening of exports of weapons and military equipment, subject to the following restrictions:
- Priority and unquestioning support for the needs of the military;
- prohibition of re-export to other countries, control of end use;
- coordination of positions with partner countries that provide ITA (International Technical Assistance) and financial support.
Olinyk also said that this would allow it:
- retain production facilities and personnel;
- reinvest money earned from exports in R&D and development;
- to increase the volume of production activities of defense industry enterprises;
- develop cooperation with key partner countries;
- increase the amount of taxes and fees to the state budget, achieve GDP growth ensure shorter delivery times and stable quality in the execution of contracts.
According to experts, this could bring in up to $2 billion in additional revenue for the budget.
This was discussed with business representatives and People's Deputies.
"We also met with the Temporary Investigatory Commission for the Protection of Investors' Rights to discuss the state of affairs and difficulties that hinder the scaling of the Ukrainian defense industry and proposals to solve existing problems. In particular, they discussed the opening of controlled exports of defense industry.
It could be a strategic step to strengthen the country's economy and develop the defense industry. After all, the current shortage of funding for defense companies can lead to bankruptcy of leading companies, as all working capital of enterprises is invested in the development of new technologies and expansion of production, or to relocation abroad," summarized the FEU Council Chairman.
