Denys Shmyhal: Action Program of the Cabinet of Ministers is a joint project of the Government, Parliament and the society

The finalized Government Action Program should become a kind of social agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers, the Verkhovna Rada and Ukrainian society.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal stated on air of the Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech – ed.) program on the ICTV TV channel.

In particular, the PM reminded that the Government's Action Program, which is to be considered by the Verkhovna Rada this week, is a document based on a number of other documents. "Those include the election program of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the program of the Servant of the People party, the President's decrees, the work of Verkhovna Rada committees, and the work of individual ministries. The Government has understanding of the results of each of the 320 items of the Program".

According to Denys Shmyhal, in addition to the introduction, which actualizes the current crisis situation, the Program contains two sections as well: "Tactical or short-term action plan to overcome the crisis phenomena and there is a long-term program planned for 4 years of the Government and Verkhovna Rada activities."

"The consensus forecast of the IMF, the Ministry of Economy (Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture – ed.), world think tanks is minus 4.8% of Ukraine's GDP decline this year. Compared to plus 3.7% last year, the difference amounts to 8.5% of GDP, but from the second half of the current year is expected a gradual economic growth", the Head of the Government noted.

Moreover, the PM said that throughout the quarantine period in the country there had been terminated six major industries, which led to a decline in production. "Apart from that, the global crisis has entailed a reduction in demand in export markets, being the focus for certain industries, and, accordingly, there has also been a slight slump of 4 to 6%. All these things are causing a crisis situation in the economy that we must tackle", Denys Shmyhal noted.

The Prime Minister stressed that day he had presented the Action Program of the Government to the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada. According to Denys Shmyhal, the meeting with the faction was constructive, as the committees and the majority of faction members were directly involved in the preparation of this Program.

"In fact, everyone confirmed that most of the faction's proposals were taken into account in the Program, and there was an absolute constructive perception of the updated document. I also thanked the faction for the opportunity to finalize together with the Verkhovna Rada the document which can be considered a kind of social contract with the society the representative of which is the parliamentary majority, and the Government. Therefore, I am convinced that this document will find support among the Ukrainian society," Denys Shmyhal summed up.