KYIV. July 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman at a government meeting on Wednesday said that a new targeted program to support farms could be launched.
“Financial support of agriculture via cheapening of loans [in the amount of UAH 300 million] is not enough, but this step was right. We plan to approve a new program to support farms in August. This would allow developing agriculture in the small and medium segments and in the micro business segment,” he said.
Groysman added that in 2017, agricultural producers would be able to receive partial compensation for purchase of agricultural machinery in the amount of 20% of its cost if the production localization level for sophisticated machinery in Ukraine exceeds 35%. UAH 550 million was allocated for these purposes in 2017, and in 2018 the government support under this program could expand to UAH 1 billion.
The prime minister said that in January-March 2017 capital investment in agriculture grew by 60%, to UAH 10.9 billion. In January-May exports of agricultural products rose by 31.4%, to $7.5 billion.
He said that agriculture accounts for 12% of Ukrainian GDP, with processing it is almost 17%, but the potential of the sector remains huge.
