In case of approval by Parliament of pension reform, retirement payments to be raised starting October 1

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman counts on Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to support Government’s draft law on the pension reform shortly - at the current session of the Parliament which ends on July 15 – and in case it adopted the Government will have an opportunity to increase retirement payments already from October 1. This was stated by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman during a meeting with representatives of regional mass media dedicated to the theme "Decentralization. Success stories. New challenges". In this context he added that the concept of the reform would be introduced to the public in the nearest time.

“I believe that with the support of the Parliament demonstrated by 226 MPs, we will be able till the end of this session, till July 15, to adopt as basis and in general, and from October 1 to increase pensions to all retirees in the country. I understand how to introduce that and I am ready to assume responsibility. I appeal to Ukrainian citizens and the Parliament for support. I am deeply convinced that the system will be changed due to such support and it will work properly for the benefit of the citizens”, stressed the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister added that it is vital to change the situation as well as to eradicate processes through which 80% of Ukrainians receive the minimum pensions.

Volodymyr Groysman drew attention to the fact that according to officials, the pension reform should envisage three components: fairness principle, deficit-free Pension Fund and improved pensions for the Ukrainian citizens.

In particular, a considerable amount of pensioners who in due time hadn't paid a kopeck to the Pension Fund receive the same minimum pension, as those retirees who were paying contributions to the Pension Fund. "It's not fair", urged the Prime Minister.

The Head of Government explained that the pension reform offered by the Government stipulates for a number of measures that will allow the country to reduce completely for the period of 7 years deficit of the Pension Fund which today exceeds UAH 140 billion and outstrips the security and defense budget for the current year.

"My target is to create such a system which provides an opportunity to reduce the Pension Fund’s deficit throughout 7 years to zero or close to zero," underlined Volodymyr Groysman.

At the same time, the Head of Government assumes the pension reform will be criticized by some politicians in a way a twofold rise of the minimum wage was potshot at the time. Then the Government was criticized and today, "some politicians claim that "they forced the Government to adopt such a decision”.

The aforesaid decision yields positive results, so it was correct, which would also be proved by the performance in the first quarter, summed up Volodymyr Groysman.