Assistance to small businesses in Ukraine: gov't presents first two programs

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine along with the National Bank has drafted the first two programs of rapid lending support for small businesses during the national quarantine, having presented them to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the press service of the head of state reports. "Small businesses suffer the most during quarantine because they don't have such a large financial pillow as large businesses do. The whole world is developing programs to support small and medium-sized businesses. I'm glad that within a few days we managed to find the required financial instruments to provide real support to the sector," the press service quoted Zelensky as saying. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that the quickest help would be to reformat the 5-7-9 program for better effectiveness under quarantine conditions. In particular, it will be greatly simplified and aimed at refinancing existing loans. The second program is created from scratch and now it is being finalized. Both programs are aimed at ensuring that businesses preserve almost the entire wage fund and the number of employees, as well as minimizing unemployment and creating conditions for a quick restart of the economy once quarantine is over. PM Shmyhal said that the implementation of the said programs will begin immediately after they are finalized. "The government hopes that the first stage of support could be launched in the near future. Also, work is underway on programs for new entrepreneurs and medium-sized businesses," the report says. As UNIAN reported earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers established a nationwide quarantine until April 24, during which most of the small businesses have been told to suspend operations.

Assistance to small businesses in Ukraine: gov't presents first two programs

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