REUTERS
The economy will fail to rise by 8% or 9% without UAH 400 billion in annual loans.
Ukrainian Minister for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko has said the domestic banking system should provide businesses with at least UAH 400 billion (US$14.9 billion) in loans annually, so that the country's economy could grow by 8%.
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"The Ukrainian [banking] system should issue at least UAH 400 billion in loans to entrepreneurs each year, so that [the economy of] our country could grow by 8%. There can be any program. The economy will fail to rise by 8% or 9% without the UAH 400 billion," he said on a Ukrainian TV channel on May 5.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the growth of Ukraine's real GDP in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019 was 1.5% year-over-year (y-o-y), having slowed from 4.1% in Q3 2019 y-o-y.
The country's GDP in January-February 2020 dropped by 0.2%.
Ukraine's key lender, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), forecasts that Ukraine's economy may decline by 7.7% in 2020.