Snap from video
The plan should include tax breaks, credit holidays for existing liabilities, and loan offers on preferential terms.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his address recorded from a hospital where he is undergoing COVID-19 treatment said he expects that the Government will in the coming days adopt a comprehensive program to support Ukrainian businesses for them to survive quarantine-related curbs.
"I instructed the government, and in the coming days we expect a comprehensive, really, a very important program of measures, which will include tax breaks, credit holidays on existing obligations, opportunities for new loans on favorable terms, sectoral support for businesses that have suffered as a result of quarantine, a support program for people who lost their earnings due to quarantine or were forced to cease their operations, and other important tools available," he said.
According to Zelensky, "this is the oxygen that is vital for small and medium-sized businesses today."
Read alsoPM vows support for businesses amid "weekend quarantine" bans
In the same address, Zelensky said his second COVID19 test returned positive, so he would be staying at the hospital in Kyiv, performing his duties in isolation.
Background
The recently introduced "weekend quarantine" introducing additional restrictions on businesses on Saturdays and Sundays has raised concerns among entrepreneurs over its expediency as many businesses already struggling through COVID-19-related curbs might not survive the new set of bans.
A number of ministers rejected the plan, while the Cabinet still voted it in, while the Verkhovna Rada failed to repeal the government move.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky is undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in the Feofania Clinic in Kyiv after testing positive for coronavirus. His office chief Andriy Yermak and a number of other senior officials have also contracted the coronavirus in November.