Ukrainian president announces two lending programs

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the decision by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) to reduce the discount rate and said it allows other banks to reduce interest rates on loans to businesses and individuals.

He said this in a video address on Monday, April 27, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"I welcome the decision of the National Bank of Ukraine to reduce the discount rate to eight percent. This gives banks the ability to reduce lending rates for both businesses and individuals. Now the ball is on their court, so we are all looking forward to such a decision," the president said.

In addition, Zelensky said that the government and the NBU are to present two important programs this week. According to him, the first is a mortgage for the population at a rate of about 10%, and the second is low-interest small business loans to pay salaries to employees.

NBU Governor Yakiv Smolii said on April 23 that the NBU Board had decided to reduce the discount rate from 10% to 8% per annum from April 24, 2020.

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