The purpose of the study was to assess the efficiency and accessibility of microcredits for small Ukrainian enterprises and to justify the feasibility of strengthening government contributions in lending to ensure the sustainable development of small businesses. Indicators for evaluating the efficiency and accessibility of microcredits are systematized. Methodological approaches to assessing the efficiency of lending for the creation and development of microenterprises have been improved. A model for evaluating the efficiency of microcredits aimed at the survival of microenterprises in a deteriorating environment was developed. It has been revealed that the level of efficiency of microcredit creation for firms in some time intervals depends quadratically on the share of microcredits in the total amount of funds directed to the creation of firms. A linear relationship between the relative amount of credit received and the growth rate of firms’ assets has also been established. However, there is no significant impact of the microcredit’s amount on labor productivity. A method has been developed for evaluating the budgetary efficiency of microcredits when such a lending is carried out using funds from state or local budgets. It was found that improving these lending conditions through budget financing can significantly increase its attractiveness for microenterprises without significantly reducing the budgetary efficiency of microcredits. This article substantiates the need to strengthen state support for microcrediting of small Ukrainian enterprises in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The methodological framework for assessing adaptability of the economy to changes in energy prices and risks to energy markets was developed. The study proposes indicators for assessing the level of adaptability of the economic sectors to changes in prices for energy carriers and to risks of energy markets. The model of decomposition of adaptability level of the economy sectors to changes in energy prices has been developed. The theoretical and empirical analysis of the influence of energy prices on adaptability level of enterprises and households is carried out. Based on the empirical analysis, it was found that adaptability level of the sectors of Ukrainian economy significantly differs both in the years of the investigated period and in sectors of the economy. At the same time, most indicators of the level of adaptability vary from 0.4 to 0.7. Consequently, the actual decline in the profit of enterprises was 40–70% lower than the potentially possible decrease in the profit of these enterprises due to the prices rising for energy carriers. Moreover sectors which are less vulnerable to the growth of prices show higher adaptability level.The possibility of using the obtained results in developing a state energy saving strategy is substantiated.

The main objective of the research is to assess the ability of the Ukrainian economy and its individual industries to ensure, in the conditions of economic growth, a stable reduction of natural gas consumption and, consequently, to reduce dependence on its imports. Six types of relationships were identified between the change in sectoral added value and the change in the consumption of certain energy resources, in particular natural gas. The conditions are established under which the growth of sectoral added value is accompanied by a decrease in the consumption of certain energy resources. The index of sectoral efficiency of the use of certain energy resources was proposed and a model of the decomposition of the growth rate of this indicator was constructed. Quantitative indicators of measuring economic barriers on the way to introduction of energy-saving technologies are presented. Conditions under which economic growth is accompanied by a decrease in the level of dependence of the economy on imports of energy resources are modeled. The dynamics of natural gas consumption by sectors of the Ukrainian economy is analyzed. It is proved that reduction of natural gas consumption due to increased energy efficiency occurs mainly in industries with an average value of share of the cost of purchasing this energy in the total operating expenses. An estimation is undertaken of the possibility of achieving independence of the Ukrainian economy from the import of natural gas in different scenarios of changing main parameters that determine the probability of such an achievement.

To solve the contradiction between achieving long-term economic growth and reducing the consumption of certain types of resources, the concept of sustainable resource saving economic development must be put into practice. The purpose of this research is to establish criteria, develop indicators, and identify factors of the sustainable energy-saving economic development, as well as to test the developed theoretical provisions using the example of natural gas consumption by different countries. To achieve this goal, various methods were used, including economic and mathematical modeling, time series analysis, factor analysis, regression analysis, and so on. The criteria were formalized, according to which a certain type of economic development can be attributed to energy saving both at the level of the state economy as a whole and at the level of individual industries and enterprises. It was established that the formalized criteria of the sustainable energy-saving economic development have the form of chains of inequalities, and their application makes it possible to identify the general conditions for ensuring this type of development. The main properties of energy-saving economic development were identified. They include the pace of this development, its potential, balance, permanence, and other characteristics. Indicators that can be used to quantify these characteristics were developed. The factors influencing the scale and time characteristics of sustainable energy-saving economic development at the level of the state economy and that of industries and individual enterprises, were systematized. The dynamics of natural gas consumption in different countries was analyzed. The reasons for the lack of energy-saving natural gas economic development in some countries were identified. A quantitative assessment of the properties of this type of economic development by country was conducted. The influence of some factors on the parameters of the sustainable energy-saving natural gas economic development of countries was analyzed. The existence of a negative effect of the rebound in the consumption of natural gas was established at certain intervals in some countries. The obtained results provide an opportunity to increase the degree of understanding of the complex patterns that underlie the sustainable energy-saving economic development of states, industries, and enterprises. These results can also be used in the development of government programs to stimulate energy conservation.

The purpose of the study was to model the investment risk of implementation of resource-saving technological changes at enterprises and to develop a method for consideration of risk for the substantiation of projects for introducing resource-saving technologies. Risk management is an important condition for increasing the expediency of technological change activities. In turn, the correct consideration of a risk factor can increase the confidence of owners of enterprises in the expediency of introduction of resource-saving technologies, which will increase the scale of such implementation. We determined principles, an information base, and a sequence of assessment of the potential of resource-saving technological changes at enterprises. We modeled an influence of prices for production resources, for which enterprises acquire industrial resources, on the effectiveness of resource-saving technologies implementation. The simulation results showed that the level of such efficiency is quite high only in a certain range of prices for resources. In this connection, we obtained expressions for determining the price ranges for a certain type of resource, which correspond to the three main options for the application of existing technological process. Such options are: to continue operation of the existing technology; to terminate its operation with the replacement of a new resource-saving technology; to stop using the existing technology without replacing it with a new one. The study substantiates expediency of consideration of a risk factor in substantiation of projects of resource-saving technological changes at enterprises by calculation of a value of the maximum acceptable amount of investments in such an introduction. It proposes to determine the maximum acceptable amount of investments based on a constructed set of scenarios of values of those project indicators that have a low level of predictability. There is no need to substantiate a value of a discount rate, which often has a high degree of subjectivity, for this approach to a risk factor.Application of the developed method of substantiation of projects for resource-saving technological changes will increase reasonableness of relevant investment decisions due to the comprehensive consideration of a risk factor in the practice of enterprises

This paper reports modeling the assessment of the potential of loan financing of projects aimed at implementing energy-saving technologies. An array of information to assess the potential of loan financing of these projects was formed. The methods for assessing the existing and prospective potential of loan financing of projects for the implementation of energy-saving technologies were devised. The criteria for the selection of energy-saving projects, which should be financed at the expense of loan funds, were systematized and ordered. The appropriateness of these studies is determined by the need to reduce the volume of energy consumption of non-renewable energy resources in many countries of the world. This causes the need to determine the potential of financial support, in particular the potential of loan financing, the implementation of energy-saving projects, first of all, projects for the implementation of energy-saving technologies at enterprises. The obtained theoretic and methodological results for the sample of enterprises were tested. It was established that the absolute magnitude of the potential of loan financing of projects implementing technologies that ensure reducing natural gas consumption at the studied enterprises is 42 projects and USD 1,805 thousand. As for the relative level of this potential, for the whole totality of enterprises it is: by the number of projects – 0.447; by financing volumes – 0.420. The obtained theoretical and methodological results can be applied by enterprises of all types of economic activity in assessing the magnitude of the potential of loan financing of energy-saving projects. In addition, these results can be used by the authorities in the development of the programs of preferential lending of the projects of implementation of energy-saving technologies