More than UAH 17.1 billion in loan agreements concluded by Oschadbank to finance the defense industry

During the full-scale war, Oschadbank has already concluded loan agreements to support the defense industry worth more than UAH 17.1 billion with state-owned and private enterprises. This includes the first banking consortium for lending to the defense industry, initiated by Oschad and implemented last year.

In mid-April, another loan agreement was signed to finance the defense industry. It provides for interest rate compensation under the terms of the state program of the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine. Oschadbank is a participant in the Ministry's program of preferential loans for defense companies.

The limit of financing under the loan agreement is UAH 100 million for a period of 3 years to replenish the working capital of a company that produces ammunition. This is a privately owned company. After the outbreak of a full-scale war, it expanded its product range to include the items required by the Ukrainian army, significantly increased its production capacity, and became a leader in its field. The company increased its net sales revenue by 80 times compared to the pre-war period.

"Oschad has historically provided loans to state-owned defense companies, so we know better than anyone how difficult the process of simplifying access to bank loans for privately owned defense companies was and how important it is for the development of the industry. We are grateful to the Ministry of Strategic Industries for their efforts. After the introduction of the state portfolio guarantee program, interest rate compensation is the second program to support defense industry producers from the state. Such programs help companies to increase their production capacity and output by significantly reducing the cost of borrowed funds. For example, this loan agreement at 5% per annum will cost the company about UAH 40 million cheaper than the market lending rate due to compensation from the state over three years," said Yurii Katsion, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank in charge of corporate business.

"We are grateful to the Oschadbank team, which was actively involved from the very beginning and helped us develop the 5% soft loan program for our armorers to make it as convenient as possible for all banks. This is an important support for Ukrainian arms manufacturers to develop production, create and scale new solutions for our army and our victory," said Anna Hvozdyar, Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine.