The growth potential of the "National Cashback" program is gradually being exhausted, as evidenced by both the decrease in the average payout per program participant and the slowing rate of producer participation, according to Daniil Getmantsev, head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax, and customs policy.
"Most likely, the 'growth potential' is gradually being depleted (if it hasn't already), and the total monthly amounts will continue to hover around the current levels, with payouts per person remaining at about 100 UAH," - wrote him on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.
According to Getmantsev, the January decline in the volume of accumulated funds within the state program was due to a slowdown in purchasing goods, as Ukrainians were buying food and gifts for the holidays in December, while January was an ordinary working month.
He added that the average payout to a program participant has not been mentioned for two months, but the trend can still be observed.
"In November 2024, dividing 232 million UAH disbursed as cashback among 2 million recipients gives an average payout of 116 UAH; in December, 436 million UAH needs to be divided among 4.5 million program participants, and in January 2025 - 414 million UAH among more than 5 million," - emphasized the committee head.
Getmantsev reminded that the program's authors aimed to distribute 3 billion UAH per quarter, or 12 billion UAH per year, which were supposed to return to the economy through the purchase of specific categories of goods to support domestic producers and service providers.
However, the committee head doubts whether the nearly 1.3 billion UAH accumulated over five months, of which only 388.4 million UAH have been disbursed, will serve as an economic stimulus. These funds have already been available to certain categories of producers (and the amounts accumulated from December to January will only be accessible at the end of February and will primarily be spent in March).
At the same time, he noted the indicative reaction of producers, whose rate of joining the program has effectively come to a standstill. According to him, in mid-November 2024, 1586 producers (324 thousand products) were participating in the program; by the end of December, there were 1665 producers (360 thousand products). As of early February 2025, there are more than 1700 producers (365 thousand products) involved in the program.
As reported, on October 11, 2024, the First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, stated that the Ministry of Economy had completed the beta testing of the "National Cashback" program and decided to launch its national advertising campaign.
The maximum cashback amount is 3 thousand UAH per month. Funds can be spent by the 20th of the following month on medical and utility services, sports, cinema, train tickets, donations to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or purchasing military bonds.
On February 3, the ministry's website published information about a decrease in the volume of accumulated funds within the program in January 2025 - by 22 million UAH, or 5%, - to 414 million UAH.