On May 16, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko held a working meeting with the G7 Ambassadors. 

In particular, with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to Ukraine Pier Francesco Zazo, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Matsuda Kuninori, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Ukraine Bridget Brink,  Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine Gaël Veyssiére, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Martin Harris, as well as Head of Cooperation of the German Embassy Martin Breitmeier,  Head of Cooperation from EU Delegation Stefan Schleuning and Deputy Head of the mission of the Embassy of Canada to Ukraine Sean Boyd.

The meeting was also attended by First Deputy Minister of Finance Denys Uliutin, Deputy Minister of Finance Roman Yermolychev, Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova and Deputy Minister of Finance Alexander Kava. 

Besides discussing the financial situation of Ukraine in the current and next years, the Minister of Finance presented to the ambassadors the key new approaches and advantages of the government's reform of the salary of civil servants based on grades (position classification).

The reform, which came in force from the beginning of 2024, aims to increase transparency and predictability in the salaries of civil servants. 

The key messages of the Minister of Finance from the presentation on the salary reform:

Ensured a unified approach to the formation of the average salary in government agencies of the relevant level. This allowed for an increase in salaries. At the same time, limited discretionary powers of management in terms of variable components of salary. 

The transparency of the new salary system is an absolute priority for the Government of Ukraine. In order to achieve this, the Ministry of Finance regularly updates and publishes an analytical dashboard where anyone can check the level of salaries of any public authority and the number of their employees.

Sergii Marchenko emphasized that the efficient use of State Budget funds is a key task for the Ministry of Finance, and the salary reform only further serves this goal. 

"Decent salaries for civil servants is one of the main conditions for involving qualified and talented employees to government authorities at various levels.  However, it is also important to have a unified approach for salary formation. The grades system for civil servants allows us to effectively ensure such conditions", the Minister of Finance of Ukraine said during his meeting with the G7 ambassadors.

The G7 Ambassadors emphasized in their statement that fair approaches to civil servants' salaries are important as an anti-corruption measure and a precondition for proper governance and effective recovery.