The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a $100-million loan to Ukraine’s state-owned Ukreximbank to be used for the special-purpose medium- and long-term lending to export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises.
The current Access to Long-Term Financing project for a total of $150 million has been implemented since June 2018 and already provided a significant positive impact on the SME sector, Ukreximbank’s press service says.
“Additional financing to counter COVID-19 under the Access to Long-Term Financing Project will be used to support small and medium-sized Ukrainian enterprises affected by the pandemic by providing loans to finance working capital needs and investment projects,” the press service quotes Board Chair Yevhen Metsher as saying.
This issue is particularly acute, Metsher says, in conditions of economic uncertainty, which cannot be addressed with the available short-term instruments.
“Therefore, an important option of the joint project of the World Bank and Ukreximbank is the possibility of providing loans for a period of three to five years for companies, whose operations are complicated by COVID-19 crisis implications,” the official said.
More than 50 enterprises have been financed within the framework of the Project, mostly in agriculture and food industry with traditionally strong competitive advantages of Ukrainian exporters. (UNIAN/Business World Magazine)