USAID to work with U.S. Congress to invest $230M in Ukrainian businesses

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will work with U.S. Congress to allocate $230 million to support Ukrainian enterprises, which includes low-interest loans, business grants, etc.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power said this at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

She said the funding would include technical assistance to businesses to help scale their operations, meet EU regulations to export more of their products and services into Europe, and ultimately create jobs for more Ukrainians.

Power said she had discussed this issue with President Volodymyr Zelensky, for whom support for the economy and small and medium-sized enterprises is a priority.

According to the USAID administrator, many financial institutions consider investing in Ukrainian businesses too risky, so the Agency intends to expand the use of such tools as low-interest loans or business grants, first-loss guarantees that will reduce the risk of investing in Ukraine.

She said that over the past few days, USAID has announced the provision of almost $1 billion in new aid, particularly to meet urgent needs for the modernization of Ukraine's agricultural sector and support for the mental health of the population.

Power arrived in Kyiv on July 17. This is her second visit to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale military invasion began.

Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine