On 19 December, the EU launched a programme aimed at providing financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. The programme will contribute to the economic recovery of Donbas and improving its investment attractiveness.
The ‘FinancEast’ programme will provide €9.5 million of grant funds through the German Development Bank KfW. It will be implemented by the German-Ukrainian Fund.
“Through this grant, the European Union hopes to relaunch sustainable lending and leasing operations in a region where banks were almost no longer operational since 2014, supporting sustainable economic and social recovery and thereby contributing to peace and reconciliation in eastern Ukraine” said Frederik Coene, First Counsellor, Head of Operations Section 2 ‘Local and Human Development’, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine.
Grant resources will be channelled to SMEs as a subsidy of up to 50 per cent of the investment costs. Investment projects will be financed through leasing or loans to purchase agricultural machinery, equipment and vehicles, and to finance the installation, construction or reconstruction of production assets.
Entrepreneurs can apply for a lease or a loan at the regional branches of financial partner institutions as of 20 December 2019.
