Ukraine plans to support industry through government orders, access to cheap loans

Ukraine's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko has said the ministry intends to support domestic industrial producers through government orders and access to cheap loans.

"First of all, we are already working on how to attract state resources, which are now going through public procurement, through budget redistribution, to stimulate production in Ukraine by offering orders to Ukrainian or foreign companies with production capacities in Ukraine," he told a Svoboda Slova [Freedom of Speech] panel show on Ukraine's ICTV channel.

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"As step 2, we will try to make credit access programs, but not only for small and medium-sized businesses, but for all enterprises," the minister added.

At the same time, Petrashko said the current economic crisis is unique as it is industrial, not financial, in its nature.

"We see that supply chains are breaking down, we see restrictions on people's movement, restriction on goods shipments, which doesn't contribute to industrial development," he said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, industrial output in Ukraine in 2019 dropped 1.8% after an increase of 1.1% in 2018.