Exclusive: How much money will the government's "come back and stay" program have?

In December 2019, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a state "come back and stay program" that would provide affordable loans for small businesses in the range of 5, 7, and 9 percent. Will the government have enough money for its goals? Economic expert and businessman Viktor Medvid spoke about this on First Business TV channel. According to him, such an initiative on the part of the current government should be assessed with a plus sign, especially when there is a good start and good intentions on this issue. At the same time, Mr. Medved noted that the only thing that may cause some concern is that the program is quite small in terms of money. Also, the figures given by the Minister of Economy and the Prime Minister of Ukraine are overstated in terms of the promised effect. We are talking about the creation of about fifty thousand investment projects that would be naturalized by entrepreneurs. "According to my calculations, this will be no more than ten thousand, and that's at best," Medved said. The economic expert also highlighted the second problem with the announced program. "The implementation of this project can yield, at best, about twenty billion in total effectiveness, and this is only if the funds are used effectively," he said. At the same time, there is a considerable share of economic risks. For example, an unexpected increase in the percentage of GDP, although this is still a less likely outcome, as the permissible deviations from the values in this plan have been taken into account. According to Mr. Medved, this step by the government is a good decision in the context of the start of reforming Ukraine's business sector. Nevertheless, one and a half million hryvnias is too little to create manufacturing jobs and fulfill other promises made by the country's leadership. As previously reported by URA-Inform, Yevhen Oleynikov, an expert at the Economic Discussion Club, explained how the state program "Come Back and Stay" for lending to small and micro businesses will affect the Ukrainian economy.