Shmyhal sums up results of the year in defense and economic sectors

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said this while summing up the results of this year, according to the Ukrainian government's website.

"At the beginning of 2023, we set clear goals and determined priorities in our work. Today, we can record the results to understand where we stand in 2024. The Government's top priority has been, remains and will be to provide for the Ukrainian army. Over 11 months, the general fund of the state budget expenditures on the security and defense sector amounted to UAH 1.5 trillion. This is 60% of our total expenditures. Every hryvnia of taxes paid by citizens and businesses that came into the budget was immediately spent on the defense of Ukraine. UAH 426 billion was earmarked for the purchase of military equipment, weapons, ammunition, defense products and other supplies for our troops," Shmyhal said.

He noted that over the past year, Ukraine has significantly increased the production of domestic weapons, equipment, ammunition, and drones, with more than 500 industries working for the defense sector, employing 300,000 people.

"The second key objective for us this year was to maintain macroeconomic stability and support economic recovery. Between January and November, GDP grew by 5.5%. Inflation has been steadily declining, from over 26% last year to around 5% in November this year. Over UAH 1 trillion of taxes has been accumulated to the state budget in 11 months. This is 27% more than in the same period last year," Shmyhal said.

He also recalled that UAH 5.5 billion had been issued under the eRobota program of non-refundable grants. More than 10,000 Ukrainians have received funds. These are new businesses. These are tens of thousands of new jobs that are now appearing across the country.

"We have been actively developing soft loan programs for our entrepreneurs. Under the Affordable Loans at 5-7-9% program, almost UAH 90 billion in soft loans were issued to 22,000 businesses. Another program, State Guarantees on a Portfolio Basis, has provided over UAH 37 billion in loans," he said.

In addition, according to Shmyhal, without waiting for the war to end, the government also launched a program of rapid recovery and reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure.

Within a year, Ukraine created a legislative framework for effective recovery. It is based on the build back better principle, barrier-free environment, inclusiveness, and security. The government allocated about UAH 55 billion from the Fund for the Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression for various reconstruction projects.

"In total, over 37,000 facilities were restored over the year. Almost 700 schools and kindergartens, more than 400 medical facilities. We have launched the eVidnovlennia [eRecovery] program. We pay our people up to UAH 500,000 to help them repair their war-damaged homes. In total, 28,000 Ukrainian families have already received UAH 2.2 billion to renovate their homes," he said.