Esteemed colleagues! Dear Ukrainians!

We are starting the Government meeting.

In 2023, we have a key task – to defeat the enemy and liberate the temporarily occupied territories. The Armed Forces are working hard on this task every day. But this also requires maximum consolidation of our society and social stability. We can achieve it, in particular, through a balanced and effective policy of support for the most vulnerable populations.

Since the first days of the full-scale invasion, the Government has done everything possible to help those affected by this war. These are internally displaced persons, people of retirement age, people with disabilities, large families.

Under unprecedentedly difficult circumstances, all social benefits were paid without interruption. In total, last year they were allocated and paid in the amount of almost UAH 800 billion.

In 2022, pensions were indexed and increased by 16% on average. At the initiative of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Government has provided additional payments of UAH 300 for people aged 70-75, UAH 400 for pensioners aged 75-80, and up to UAH 500 for people aged 80+.

Almost 11 million pensioners received pension payments in a timely manner for a total amount of over UAH 575 billion. This was due to conscientious payment of the single social contribution by employers: the Pension Fund received over UAH 375 billion. This is almost 6% more than planned.

The organizational model of social insurance has changed. Now it is implemented by the Pension Fund of Ukraine. It approves, allocates and pays housing subsidies, as well as sick leave, maternity leave, monthly and one-time insurance payments. This makes the support system faster, more flexible and targeted.

Utility tariffs for the population remain unchanged. In addition, 2.5 million households received housing subsidies in the amount of UAH 24.7 billion last year. Another UAH 12.7 billion was provided as benefits for the payment of utilities.

Today, the Government is adopting a decision that will make the sums in utility bills even lower. It is a program of free replacement of old incandescent lamps with energy-saving LED lamps.

At the first stage, we plan to replace up to 500,000 lamps in six regions of Ukraine. After that, the project will be launched in the normal course throughout Ukraine in about two weeks.

Everyone will be able to apply through Diia and then receive 5 new lamps at the nearest branch of Ukrposhta. The whole process will be as simple and fast as possible.

I thank our partners for their support. In particular, the European Commission, which purchases 30 million LED lamps for Ukraine, and France, which adds another 5 million.

Back to social payments.

In 2022, the state paid:

• UAH 10.2 billion of assistance at childbirth;
• UAH 13.7 billion to low-income families;
• UAH 14.8 billion to persons with disabilities, including children;
• UAH 5.5 billion to large families.

Also, UAH 29 billion was paid as social insurance benefits. Of these, more than UAH 12 billion is sick leave.

The full-scale war has caused a rapid increase in the number of internally displaced persons. Last year, 1.8 million Ukrainians received assistance from the state as IDPs in the amount of about UAH 53.5 billion. It is important that IDP status registration services have become more accessible due to digitalization. And for this year we have extended payment of assistance to IDPs automatically.

An important component of support is a compensation to employers for hiring IDPs, which is UAH 6,500 for two months for each IDP employee. Last year, employers were paid almost UAH 199 million under this program. Now we are making a decision to increase the amount of compensation to UAH 6,700. This will encourage businesses to more actively employ internally displaced persons.

In 2023, we plan to further adapt social support to the war and post-war conditions.

We have ambitions to develop and promote the adoption of the Social Code of Ukraine. It will include all social components taking into account the philosophy of targeting and overcoming difficult life circumstances.

In the pension sphere we plan to develop accumulative pensions. It is very important to enable Ukrainians to take care of their old age while they are young.

And most importantly. 2023 will be the year of not only Ukrainian victory, but also the year when the great reconstruction of what is damaged and destroyed will begin.

The scale of the destruction is colossal. We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars of losses. Accordingly, Ukraine’s restoration program will become the largest reconstruction project since the World War II. We have already identified 4 key sources of financing.

Firstly, these are confiscated russian funds. The Government has already transferred UAH 17 billion of confiscated funds of russian banks to the budget Fund for the elimination of the consequences of armed aggression. The process of confiscation of russian assets in Ukraine continues. We are working to start it in the allied countries as well.

The second source of funding will come directly from the state budget. This year, UAH 35.5 billion will also be allocated to the Fund for the elimination of the consequences of armed aggression at the expense of a part of NBU’s profit.

The third source is the funds of international partners. There are already first steps in this direction. The USA has decided to allocate USD 1.4 billion or over UAH 56 billion for the restoration of Ukraine. We expect the receipt of these funds in the near future.

The fourth source is donor funds from around the world, which are collected through the United24 platform initiated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The first projects have already been selected. There are corresponding funds. Hundreds of families will be able to return to their homes and normal life.

We are grateful to all our partners and thousands of people from around the world who are helping us to start this reconstruction process.

Currently, the total amount of funds for the restoration from already known sources is about UAH 110 billion.

In total, this year we expect to receive USD 17 billion or UAH 680 billion for the priority restoration of damaged and destroyed property.

I have no doubt that thanks to the support of our friends, we will rebuild everything and make it even better than before.

Ukraine will win. We keep the line.

Glory to the Armed Forces!

Glory to Ukraine!