Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Rozenko assures that on condition that resource in the Pension Fund of Ukraine is available, raising pensions to people who had long pension insurance record, but got low wages will take place this year. The top official said this on air of Channel 5.

"Raising pensions for those people who had had a long seniority and low wages at the time they retired, and as a result they were assigned small pension payments, is the next stage of the pension reform. In particular, it is vital to amend the current legislation. The Government has appealed to the President of Ukraine on this, there are relevant initiatives of the Government", he said.

He called it absolutely unfair when people with a large insurance record last October had received minimal, marginal supplementary pension payments. "I hope that the Ministry of Social Policy will execute the relevant commissions and submit it to the Government, and the Government in turn will submit amendments to the laws regulating this mechanism for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada", said the Vice Prime Minister.

"Government has no debates whether to raise pensions or not. It all depends on the financial capacity of the Ukrainian economy, on the availability of financial resources of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. This issue is quite multifaceted and depends on the development of the economy, and the legalization of wages, the legalization of shadow employment, and the dynamics of revenues to the Pension Fund. If all these factors fit together and we have a real resource, I hope that this year we will announce and implement this initiative", emphasized Pavlo Rozenko.