Opening arms exports will increase foreign exchange earnings and strengthen hryvnia, - "servant of people" Yanchenko
The opening of Ukrainian arms exports abroad will help to preserve the maximum number of enterprises and jobs in Ukraine and increase foreign exchange earnings in Ukraine.
This was stated during a press conference "Development of the Ukrainian Defense Industry - Obstacles and Solutions" by the chairman of the Investor Protection Commission, People's Deputy of the Servant of the People Party Halyna Yanchenko, Censor.NET reports.
According to her, the defense industry is considered one of the key points of growth for Ukraine's economy, both during the war and in the post-war period.
The parliamentarian noted that the number of weapons produced in Ukraine has increased 6 times over the past 2 years.
"Despite the strategic role of the defense industry, we are faced with the fact that the pace of this extremely dynamic growth is slowing down today. This is due to the fact that we have a de facto monopoly of the customer. This is mainly the Ministry of Defense, which at the same time sets rather strict restrictions and rules for public procurement. This prevents our Ukrainian arms manufacturers from growing dynamically. With exports closed and other markets closed, this actually artificially limits the growth of the defense industry," Yanchenko explained.
During the event, representatives of defense industry associations and MPs signed a Memorandum of Understanding on joint actions in three priority areas:
- Improvement of public procurement conditions;
- Improving access to financial instruments;
- Regulation of export activities.
"We have already started working on solving these three sets of problems. In particular, with regard to revising the terms of public procurement. We have already made a proposal to amend the relevant resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers and plan to submit a group deputy appeal to Prime Minister Shmyhal on behalf of deputies today on what exactly needs to be revised in the regulatory framework," she said.
Regarding the second block - access to financial instruments - Yancheko said that for the first time, a significant program of preferential loans for the defense industry would be introduced.
"More than 20 People's Deputies have submitted proposals to the next year's budget to provide UAH 2.5 billion to compensate for bank rates. This means that next year, a large number of defense companies will be able to take advantage of preferential loans. Thus, the President's program for lending to the Ukrainian economy will be expanded," the People's Deputy said.
According to Yanchenko, the export of Ukrainian weapons is currently completely blocked. At the same time, she added, it should be understood that arms exports are a rather complex and specific market.
"It often takes a year or two to sign an export contract. This means that opening up export potential even today will lead to changes in six months, a year, two years. This means that this problem needs to be solved today so that in 2 years these enterprises do not simply close down because they have no market," explained the ‘servant of the people’.
She also said that she could give Ukraine a controlled opening of arms exports.
"First, it will stop the massive trend of relocation of Ukrainian defense companies. We want to keep the maximum number of enterprises and jobs in Ukraine. Secondly, it will be a significant increase in foreign exchange earnings and stability of the hryvnia. And thirdly, it will make it possible to fully utilize the production capacities of Ukrainian defense companies so that they do not stand idle," Yanchenko summarized.
