Tools of Financial Support for Agriculture Lending in Ukraine

In the course of their activities, almost every business entity faces the problem of lack of own funds. This problem is especially acute in the agricultural sector. The constraining factor in the development of bank lending to agricultural enterprises, as always, is the high cost of credit resources and significant collateral requirements, which are often not enough to cover the credit obligations of borrowers. The purpose of the article is to analyze the current state of lending to agricultural enterprises in Ukraine and to substantiate the modern instruments of financial support of crediting of agrarian sphere. The authors conducted a comparative analysis of the efficiency of agricultural enterprises, depending on their size; the structure of financial resources is analyzed and the dependence on external sources of financing is proved; an assessment of the dynamics of the volume of credit investments in the agricultural sector. Study results show that the price factor has a negative impact on the formation of credit relations of agricultural enterprises with banking institutions. According to the authors, the promising instruments of financial support for lending to agricultural enterprises include programs of cooperation with international financial organizations, including the European Investment Bank and the German-Ukrainian Fund. It was established that in Ukraine agricultural enterprises are given ample opportunities to attract credit resources. In order to intensify the lending process, it is important to continue the process of improving the mechanism of forming the value of credit resources and to start work on solving the problematic issues of securing credit obligations by agricultural enterprises. On the other hand, agricultural enterprises must work to increase their own investment attractiveness – to form a positive image; to maintain the financial stability of enterprises at the appropriate level; to develop the organizational and financial culture of the enterprise; increase production efficiency; to improve methodological approaches to drawing up business plans taking into account the requirements of international financial organizations, etc.