Government allocates UAH 1bn to compensate preferential loan rates for defense industry – Shmyhal
The government has allocated 1 billion hryvnias to partially compensate interest on loans and leasing for defense industry enterprises.
Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal reported this on Telegram.
"This decision enables weapons manufacturers to scale up production, invest in modern equipment, and move faster from development to mass production of weapons," the minister wrote.
He recalled that the preferential lending program for defense industry enterprises makes it possible to raise:
- up to 100 million hryvnias for working capital (for up to three years);
- up to 500 million hryvnias for investment projects (for up to five years).
The effective interest rate on loans for enterprises is 5% per year, with the state compensating the rest.
"We have also introduced a preferential financial leasing program for defense industry enterprises—on the same terms, at 5% per year. This is an opportunity to upgrade production without excessive financial burden," Shmyhal added.
As reported, during the first year of the preferential lending program, Ukrainian defense industry enterprises received 80 loans totaling almost 5 billion hryvnias.
As of November last year, another 16 applications from defense enterprises totaling almost 700 million hryvnias were approved for disbursement. Another 52 applications worth more than 4 billion hryvnias were at various stages of review, the Defense Ministry reported.
