The “national cashback” did not work: only 0.001 GDP growth
30 December 17:10
The state economic program “National Cashback”, which was launched to stimulate consumer demand, failed to meet its expectations. During 11 months of 2024, with budget funding of UAH 400 million, the program generated only 0.001% of GDP growth. This is evidenced by the data of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, according to Komersant ukrainskyi.
According to the Department of Strategic Planning and Macroeconomic Forecasting of the Ministry of Economy, the program “Loans 5-7-9” showed the greatest economic effect in 2024. With funding of UAH 18 billion, it boosted GDP growth by 0.422%. The total amount of demand shock from this program amounted to UAH 61.8 billion.
By the way, the demand shock from the national cashback is the same as the UAH 400 million invested in this program.
Other notable government development programs include eHouse with a budget of UAH 1.8 billion and a GDP impact of 0.056%, as well as support for agricultural machinery (UAH 900 million, GDP impact of 0.043%).
In total, more than UAH 35 billion was allocated for economic development programs from the state budget of Ukraine for 2024. These funds are distributed between programs to support producers and stimulate consumer demand. According to the Ministry of Economy, the aggregate impact of all development programs on GDP amounted to 0.64%, with a total demand shock of UAH 88.2 billion.
Apart from the National Cashback, the least effective programs were those aimed at stimulating investment demand (0.001% impact on GDP) and the Winter eSupport program, which, with a budget of UAH 7.9 billion, only contributed 0.023% to GDP growth. At the same time, if we note that this program was actually in effect only in November, it produced perhaps the best result.
As reported by , the National Cashback payments for December will be made at the end of February.
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How the National Cashback program works
The state returns 10% of the cost of Ukrainian goods from a special list purchased in participating stores. The funds are transferred to a special National Cashback card, which cannot be withdrawn.
What you can spend the money on:
- Utilities.
- Medical services.
- Education.
- Transportation.
- Mobile communication.
- Insurance.
- Books and printed materials.
- Medicines and medical products of Ukrainian origin.
- Charity.
- Donations to the Armed Forces of Ukraine through charitable foundations.
The maximum cashback amount is 3000 UAH per month.
How to join the program
To participate in the program, you need to apply through the mobile application of an authorized bank or contact a branch, open a National Cashback card and activate it in the Diia application.
