The Ministry of Finance took all possible steps on time and in line with the law of Ukraine to pay overdue salaries to coal-miners.

According to the Government’s decision, additional 200 million hryvnias were provided to pay salaries to coal-miners, which was made possible through the re-distribution of funds under the budget programs of the Ministry for Energy Supply and Coal. This decision must be approved by the Budget Committee of the Parliament. According to the Budget Code, the above funds can’t be used to pay salaries without this approval. Accordingly, we will release these funds, as soon as we have the approval letter from the Committee.

However, the Ministry of Finance objected to such a re-distribution of the budget expenses, since the major amount (155 million hryvnias) should be taken from the program for the closure of five unprofitable coal-mines. Hence, the funds originally meant to be used to close the coal-mines will be used to pay the pending salaries.

This problem has a systemic nature and is related to the ineffective use of state budget funds. Obviously, unprofitable branches of economy still receive funding in Ukraine and reforms are overdue here. One of these branches is the coal-mining industry which is again demonstrated by the current case. The best way to solve the issue of unprofitable operations in the coal-mining industry is to reform it and remove its losses.