Volodymyr Groysman assures the Government's topmost goal is to overcome poverty

The topmost task which should be addressed today is to build a high quality system to overcome poverty in the country. This was stated by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman on air of the ICTV channel on Monday.

"The essential challenge we are facing is the fight against poverty. This is the topmost objective that we must tackle - to build an efficient system that will provide an opportunity to overcome poverty in our country", said Volodymyr Groysman.

"People must live longer, people must live better, and the most important for us is to overcome poverty. But it is impossible to overcome extreme poverty by words. It is possible to do with concrete actions. Such concrete decisions are planned in the budget. And this is just the beginning," he noted.

Referring to 2017 Budget, the Head of Government stressed that the provided in it solutions are aimed to improve the quality of people’s lives.

“This Budget is a budget with an emphasis on a person”, said Volodymyr Groysman. “The core of this budget makes up specific decisions that will affect the quality of life of each Ukrainian citizen.”

Namely, the budget stipulates for a twofold increase of the minimum wage from UAH 1,600 to 3,200. Moreover, there has been planned to raise salaries for Ukrainian teachers by 50% as compared to 2016 and for doctors – by 30%.

In 2016, the Government has enhanced social standards by 16%. This figure is viewed insufficient, but it was real, honest, and correspond to real possibilities of the economy of the State.

According to him, dozens years of inefficient governance by populists in the country have led millions of citizens to impoverishment. Volodymyr Groysman stressed that Ukraine has the potential to trigger development of its economy, and to improve people’s lives as a result of this development.

The Prime Minister noted that the Government had managed to stabilize the situation in 2016. In 2017, the Government has planned in budget a 3% economic growth, which "will clearly affect the budget of each Ukrainian citizen".

"Our task is to work and implement the budget, and to enable people feel that the situation is beginning to change and at last we have managed to achieve normal life our country", said the Head of Government.

In this context, Volodymyr Groysman noted that it is also crucial to reform the pension system in the country that is yet not capable of protecting pensioners.

"The principal objective for our Government and the Parliament, as we need political support, is a systemic retrofitting of the pension system, which is to be accompanied by the raising of retirement benefit. This is destined to be a system that will, instead of producing deficit in the Pension Fund, reduce it and turn the system into self-sufficient, to ensure those people who are middle-aged and working now could retire with dignity. This is my desire. I prefer us to unite for this purpose – for the sake of Ukrainian citizens", he stressed.

The Prime Minister also highlighted that he would fight against hidden unemployment. According to him, through non-payment contributions to the Pension Fund by employers, the latter condemn employees to the poverty after retirement.

"Demonstrating tolerance in this issue, we support the impoverishment of Ukrainian citizens. This is unacceptable," he urged.

Apart from that, the Government is facing the challenge to upgrade an employment system, added Volodymyr Groysman. In his words, "currently this system produces unemployment, although on the contrary it should produce opportunities for a person to find a job, get at least the minimum wage and could feel he lives a decent life".