The partner banks of the Entrepreneurship Development Fund last week concluded 196 new agreements for a total amount of UAH 638 million under the Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program, as compared to 110 agreements for UAH 324 million a week before, the Finance Ministry of Ukraine said on Monday.

According to the ministry, as of July 27, the banks issues 1,446 loans for a total amount of UAH 2.413 billion since the launch of the program in February.

Credits for refinancing of previously issued loans are in the highest demand among businesses within the government's program. In particular, last week the portfolio of such loans increased by UAH 564 million, to UAH 1.637 billion, and the amount of applications for refinancing reached UAH 6.464 billion.

The ministry also said that entrepreneurs' demand for investment loans remains stably high. As of July 27, the partner banks issued UAH 757.3 million in investment loans, which allowed replenishing the capital funds of businesses by around UAH 1 billion, while the amount of applications for loans within this product reached UAH 5.129 billion.

As of July 27, the Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program has 18 partner banks: Ukrgasbank, Oschadbank, PrivatBank, Ukreximbank, Lviv Bank, FUIB, KredoBank, Alliance Bank, TAScombank, Vostok Bank, Policombank, Megabank, Raiffeisen Bank Aval, Globus Bank, Credit Agricole Bank, OTP Bank and Creditwest Bank.