State will provide 15,000 grants for SMEs in 2024 – Economy Ministry
Small and medium-sized enterprises will be able to receive 15,000 grants from the state for development next year: 14,000 micro-grants for small businesses up to UAH 250,000 and 1,000 grants for processing enterprises up to UAH 8 million, the press service of the Ministry of Economy reports.
The release does not contain the total amount of grants that are planned to be distributed next year, but earlier Deputy Minister of Economy Tetiana Berezhna noted that it is planned to allocate UAH 3.5 billion for micro-grants next year: with a planned number of 14,000, the average grant size will be exactly UAH 250,000.
According to the Ministry of Economy, as of November 21, since the launch of the eRobota (eWork) project in July 2022, some 8,013 micro-grants worth UAH 1.9 billion, 487 grants for the development of processing enterprises worth UAH 2.5 billion, 133 grants for horticulture and the development of greenhouse farming have been issued for UAH 555 million and 120 grants to veterans and members of their families for UAH 45 million.
“Next year the government will expand business support programs, and we encourage local communities to join their co-financing. In particular, for 2024 we have budgeted UAH 18 billion to extend affordable lending to domestic entrepreneurs under the 5-7-9% program,” said First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko.
According to her, next year there will also be a program for partial compensation for the production of agricultural machinery, which will support domestic machine builders and stimulate their development.
It is noted that for the first time, the budget includes UAH 1 billion to expand the network of industrial parks, on the territory of which entrepreneurs can enjoy a number of benefits. Local authorities can also join in the creation of industrial parks.
In addition, next year, the eOselia mortgage lending program will continue to operate, thanks to which the development of housing construction and related industries is stimulated. In a number of regions, local authorities have already joined in mortgage compensation for certain categories of citizens, in particular, there are regional compensation programs in Chernivtsi, Mykolaiv, Zakarpattia, Odesa regions and in Kryvy Rih.