The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on Jan. 12 passed the law on the development of, and state support for, small and medium businesses in Ukraine, with 272 votes in favor.
The law deals with the following types of state financial support: partial compensation of credit interest rates, partial recovery of leasing, factoring expenditures and payments for the use of bonds; the granting of guarantees and security on credits for small and medium businesses; the provision of loans for buying and introducing new technologies; the covering of expenditures on the development of cooperation between small and medium businesses and big companies; and financial assistance for the introduction of energy saving and environmentally friendly technologies.
According to the law, state support for small and medium businesses and the infrastructure facilities of small and medium businesses includes financial and information support, consulting, including support in the sphere of innovations, science and industrial production, assistance to small and medium businesses involved in export activities, and support in the sphere of training, re-training and advanced training of business management and personnel.
The state support for small and medium businesses includes the formation of programs that are to be developed and implemented by a special agency for the development of small and medium businesses with the assistance of other central executive agencies and public organizations. Such programs will be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers within three months of the adoption of the law on the national budget for next year.
The law also deals with restrictions on state support for some businesses, in particular, crediting and insurance organizations, investment and non-governmental pension funds, professional participants of the securities market, pawn shops, non-residents of Ukraine, manufacturers and vendors of weapons, spirits, and tobacco products.
According to the law, state support will not be provided to currency exchange offices, leasers, bankrupts, as well as companies that have debts to the budget, the Pension Fund of Ukraine, and state funds of compulsory social insurance.
