Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said that the 2017 state budget envisages direct support for Ukrainian farmers at UAH 10 billion, twice as much as was planned in the draft state budget for 2017 approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
”We have agreed with factions and committees that [financial] resources for the agricultural sector will be at a level of UAH 10 billion, i.e. twofold increase,” the prime minister said when speaking in parliament.
According to Groysman, enhancing support for farmers will enable them to produce competitive goods.
”It will give us an opportunity to support Ukrainian agricultural producers, and most importantly is that I want us to stop being a mere supplier of raw materials for economies of other countries. It is essential that we create a national product that will be competitive and provide decent jobs for Ukrainians,” the prime minister said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ukrainian government earmarked UAH 5.5 billion in state funds to finance a program of direct financial support to small and medium-sized farmers.
The resumption of a direct state support of the agricultural sector is aimed at compensating potential losses of farmers due to the abolition of the preferential VAT treatment from January 1, 2017.
The Ukrainian Agrarian Policy Ministry expects to get additional UAH 450 million in state support for the agricultural sector in the current year. However, the funds will be available in the spring of 2017, according to Agrarian Minister Taras Kutovyi.
