Address by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during the Government session on December 29

Greet you, dear colleagues, respected Ukrainian citizens.

Today is the last regular meeting of the Government this year. This means that it is time to sum up the results of 2021.

My today’s speech will be focused on the transformations and changes that have been made despite the global pandemic and despite Russia's aggression.

I would like to thank you, my colleagues, and your teams for the work you have managed to do this year. Many positive changes, programs, reforms and results. We have what to be proud of, we have what to talk about.

In 2021, as in the previous year, we focused a lot on countering the pandemic. This is relevant not only to the Ministry of Health but also to all other ministries and agencies.

Vaccination against coronavirus have been among the principal objectives this year. And I believe that our team, under the leadership of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has coped with this task.

We have launched a free immunization campaign for all citizens. All available vaccines are safe and tested. And most importantly - they protect against severe disease. Fifty percent of Ukrainian adults will have been vaccinated in the near future. There is a sufficient amount of vaccines so that everyone can get immunized. Since the start of the year, more than 40 million doses have been delivered to Ukraine. We are also provided with vaccines for the whole next year.

In total, the Government has spent more than UAH 35 billion this year to finance the fight against the coronavirus. This includes surcharges for doctors, the purchase of oxygen and oxygen stations, and the financing of test laboratories, and many other important things.

The healthcare system comprises three components: patients, doctors and infrastructure. There has been significant progress in each of these areas this year. Doctors' salaries have been increased by an average of 30%. Three million patients benefit from the Affordable Medicines program, which has been extended by almost 50% this year. More than 700 new ambulances have been purchased this year. Hundreds of emergency departments of hub hospitals were renovated and hundreds items of expensive medical equipment were purchased. Funding for the prevention and treatment of cancer, heart attacks, strokes and other diseases has been increased. Speaking in numbers, for example, in 2020 the state allocated a little more than UAH 3 billion for cancer treatment, and this year this amount has increased to UAH 5 billion. And we are also increasing funding in each area because we understand that all these billions of hryvnias are being transformed into a qualitatively new medical system that saves tens and hundreds of thousands of lives of Ukrainians.

Social sphere. Supporting the most vulnerable layers of the population in a pandemic is the challenge that has become the basis of our action. Therefore, this year the Government has increased payments to various categories of pensioners 10 times. The minimum benefits for those with full experience have been upped twice. Indexation was carried out for both unemployed and working pensioners. Surcharges for military retirees have been significantly increased, as well as minimum pensions for Chornobyl victims. For the second year in a row, Ukrainian pensioners are being paid extra benefits for their age.

As a result, since December, the average pension in Ukraine has reached almost four thousand hryvnias. Next year we will also continue to improve pension benefits and surcharges.

The minimum wage has also been doubled this year. Now it is UAH 6,500.

A separate important block is the tariff issue. Amidst the world energy crisis, by joining efforts we have managed to ensure the stability of tariffs. Thanks to the President's initiative, as well as joint actions with local authorities, tariffs for heat and hot water will not increase until the end of the heating season. The same applies to gas prices. Despite the unprecedented challenges, we entered smoothly and are passing through this heating season. Subsidy support for people has been significantly increased and, at the same time, the reform of subsidy monetization has been completed.

Digitalization of social services has also started this year. A new Unified Social Information System has been introduced, thereby allowing to automate all processes in the industry, reduce the time of receiving services and ensure their better targeting. The system will allow saving about UAH 10 billion annually for the state budget on the processing of social services. This is a truly important reform in terms of the citizens’ comfort and efficiency of spending taxpayers' money.

Digitalization also affected the educational process. A very important program, which has already yielded concrete results, is to provide Ukrainian teachers with laptops. To date, more than 61,000 Ukrainian teachers have been provided with modern computer technology through the national Laptop for Every Teacher project. The development of the All-Ukrainian Online School platform continues. It contains 1,800 different lessons from 73 courses. Among the functions of the platform is a Teacher's Account, which allows creating virtual classes, track student learning progress and provide feedback.

In 2021, the Government significantly increased spending on the Ministry of Education: by UAH 26 billion compared to 2020. Salaries of Ukrainian teachers have grown by more than 25% this year. If in September last year the salary of a teacher of the first category was about 10,000 hryvnias, presently the salary of the same category teacher is already 13,000 hryvnias.

A separate program in the education sector, where important changes have been triggered, is the reform of school nutrition. More than 1,300 catering sections have been modernized. A useful and healthy menu has been elaborated and introduced. An unprecedented amount of UAH 1.5 billion has been allocated for school nutrition reform next year.

Concluding the educational topic, I would like to note the progress in the reform of vocational education. It is, definitely, too early to talk about its completion, but we have begun to address these issues on a systematic basis. The Government has attracted businesses and international partners to ensure success in reforming vocational schools. Just three weeks ago, Ukraine received UAH 1.7 billion from the European Investment Bank, thus providing a resource to modernize the educational space and approaches to the relevant direction of education.

The key areas of our work this year were also those directions the lack of which disables building a strong competitive state. These are areas such as digitalization, decentralization, infrastructure development and European integration.

I have already talked a little about digitalization in the social sphere and in education. This is only part of the program of large-scale digitalization of our country. This year, the opportunities for Ukrainian citizens to receive online services have been significantly expanded and a significant number of bureaucratic procedures have been minimized. The best indicator of the quality of work is that an increasing number of citizens appreciate the benefits and use e-services. The percentage of those using e-services during the year has grown from 53% to 60%. In 2021, more than 20 electronic services were added to the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services (Diia Portals). The 15 new services have been launched and the display of six new digital documents, including domestic and international COVID-certificates, introduced in the mobile application the Diia Portal.

An important area of work to increase the convenience and accessibility of public services is the development of a network of administrative service provision centers (CASPs). It has doubled to 2,700 points: 1,020 centers, 1,527 remote jobs, 120 regional offices, and 28 mobile centers. On average, approximately 160 services are available across the country through the CASP.

Our goal is to ensure that a center for administrative services provision exists in every nook of the country. This is an important criterion that the state is open to the people and exists to satisfy the needs of its citizens.

Along with the number of CASPs in the country, there have been devolved more financial resources to the regions. This is a logical consequence of decentralization reform. This year the revenues of local budgets are expected at the level of UAH 320 billion (last year – UAH 290 billion), next year - it is planned to make it UAH 437 billion. The total amount of financial resources of local budgets for 2022 will be UAH 631 billion. And this is a colossal figure that will allow communities to implement many more initiatives on the ground.

Along with local development, significant nationwide changes continue in the shape of large-scale infrastructure projects. The implementation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's program Large Construction is underway - the largest infrastructure project in the history of independence, which is tangible for the majority of Ukrainian citizens. In the last two years alone, more than 13,500 kilometers of state and local roads, more than 500 bridges have been renovated, almost 400 schools and kindergartens, 25 swimming pools and almost 200 stadiums have been either built or repaired.

Next year, ambitious projects are planned to be implemented, including the start of construction of the Krakovets-Lviv-Brody-Rivne concession autobahn.

Other important infrastructure projects launched this year include the development of rail services. Electrification of railway sections for the development of interregional communication has been started. Ukrzaliznytsia's rolling stock is being renewed, the first batches of domestically produced cars have been delivered. By the way, also for the first time in 30 years, the state ordered three Antonov aircraft and has actually received the first of them - the AN-178 aircraft - from the state plant for our Armed Forces.

One of the key directions for Ukraine's domestic and foreign policy remains the advancement towards the European Union and the integration of European best practices and policies. The EU is not only the geopolitical future of Ukraine but also the internal agenda of our state.

Currently, the Government focuses on six directions in its activities. We are talking about six so-called visa-free regimes. We have already received the green light and signed an agreement on the Common Aviation Area, or aviation visa-free regime. Regarding industrial, customs, digital, transport and energy visa-free regimes, substantive dialogue and enhanced cooperation on both sides continue.

In addition, this year we have accelerated towards the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU. Overall progress in implementing the 2021 Agreement has already risen to 61%. A substantive dialogue has been launched on the renewal of customs tariffs in order to review the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. A dialogue with the EU on the European Green Deal has been launched. We have managed to develop a roadmap for the transformation of coal regions. The respective two projects will be implemented next year in synergy with international partners. In addition, the state will engage in the implementation of four more projects.

In 2021, we prolonged our active cooperation with international financial organizations. This year, Ukraine has received significant support from international partners, which demonstrates confidence in Ukrainian institutions and that we are moving in the right direction. In total, Ukraine has received almost USD 2.5 billion from the IMF, the EU, the World Bank, the EIB and the EBRD.

Economic growth and growing incomes of citizens against the background of the coronavirus-inflicted crisis were of particular importance this year. And we can see that there is also significant progress in this direction.

We end the year of 2021 with a record dollar GDP - almost USD 200 billion.

For the first time in the history of our independent state, the average salary in Ukraine makes up USD 550. During the year it has grown by more than 19%.

In 2021, foreign investment will be a record for the last 5 years and will amount to, according to the National Bank of Ukraine, about USD 6.5 billion.

Among the successful initiatives that have been implemented in the economic sphere, it is worth noting the introduction of state support for large investment projects. More than 25 investors have already applied to UkraineInvest with investment projects worth about USD 2 billion. This is a good start and next year we will see the effect of these resources on the economy of our country.

In 2020, we talked about the importance of the anti-crisis component of government concessional lending programs. In 2021, such programs have more than tripled. In the framework of the presidential program "5-7-9" in 2021, almost UAH 65 billion of affordable loans were issued. In total, in less than two years, almost UAH 80 billion in loans have been issued under this program.

Another UAH 7 billion was issued under another program of portfolio guarantees from the State. More than 30,000 businesses from different regions and industries received cheap resources and the opportunity to develop their business and support it.

Anti-crisis programs to bail out the economy and business have become an integral part of the Government's economic policy over the past two years. In the last year alone, the Government, at the initiative of the President, has launched direct and targeted payments for small and medium-sized businesses totaling UAH 15 billion.

In the spring of this year, the bailout resource was paid to entrepreneurs who faced restrictions in their activities through the fact that their region fell into the red zone. Now we have successfully launched the program of targeted payments ePidtrymka. Entrepreneurs are already positively assessing the effect of such a program.

Predictability and stability is what business expects and it is what we are constantly talking about with its representatives. With the launch of free and affordable vaccination, we no longer plan to introduce total lockdowns. A business can operate even in red zones if its employees are 100% vaccinated.

As for the macroeconomic stability of the state, I also consider we have coped with this issue. The hryvnia remains stable, there are enough resources in the budget to finance all expenditures. The performance of the state budget in January-November this year made up 104%. This is by UAH 47 billion more than expected, and these funds were used to support citizens, the economy and the defense sector. In addition, due to a balanced and effective debt and budget policy, the state budget deficit for 11 months amounted to only 1.4% of GDP.

It is also worth noting that this year we have adopted the National Economic Strategy until 2030. An ambitious document that provides a roadmap for the development of each sector and sphere in our country.

Two important stories that have also triggered this year - those connected to the economic development of our country - are the launch of the land market and the launch of an affordable mortgage lending program.

The program was started in March and during this time, 1,300 contracts worth more than UAH 1.1 billion have already been signed. In total, for over 10 months of 2021, mortgage loans to the tune of UAH 7 billion were issued, which is 2.5 times more than last year. Besides, this year the Government decided to increase the authorized capital of Ukrfinzhytlo by UAH 20 billion, thereby allowing to provide thousands of Ukrainian families with their own homes on annual basis.

Undoubtedly, a historic landmark in 2021 was the launch of the land market and the opportunity for Ukrainian citizens to freely dispose of their property. Thanks to the coordinated work of the Government and the Parliament, this launch took place in a completely calm environment. As of mid-December, 61,000 land purchase and sale agreements had been concluded in Ukraine. Everything is absolutely transparent, smooth, without conflicts. The land market is working and justice for Ukrainians in this matter has been restored.

Summing up, I would like to note that overcoming common challenges and achieving important results in key areas would be impossible without the coordinated work of the President of Ukraine, the Government and the Parliament.

This year has been difficult but productive. And we are ready to continue working to build a competitive state, which focuses on the citizen of Ukraine, his/her safety, income, comfort and opportunities.

I would like to wish during these New Year holidays to all the Ukrainians good health, success and wish fulfillment in the coming year.