Statement by Prime Minister of Ukraine

Statement by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at a Government session

January 10, 2023

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Good afternoon, dear colleagues and dear Ukrainians!

We are starting the meeting of the Government.
In 2023 our key task is to defeat the enemy and liberate the temporarily occupied territories. The armed forces are fruitfully working on this task every day. But this also requires the maximum consolidation of our society and social stability. We will be able to achieve it, in particular, with a balanced and effective policy of supporting the most vulnerable sections of the population.

From the first days of the full-scale invasion the Government did 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, they were calculated and paid last year in the amount of almost UAH 800 billion.

In 2022 pensions are indexed and increased by 16% on average. On the initiative of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Government 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 on time for a total amount of over UAH 575 billion. This happened thanks to the conscientious payment of social security contributions by employers: The Pension Fund received more than UAH 375 billion. This is almost 6% more than was planned.

The organizational model of social insurance has changed. Now the Pension Fund of Ukraine implements it. It is he who appoints, calculates and pays housing subsidies, as well as hospital, maternity, monthly and one-time insurance payments. This makes the support system faster, more flexible and targeted.

We leave utility tariffs for the population unchanged. In addition, 2.5 million households received housing subsidies in the amount of UAH

24.7 billion last year. Another 12.7 billion hryvnias were provided as benefits for the payment of housing and communal services.

Today, the Government makes a decision, thanks to which the amounts in utility bills will be even smaller. We are talking about the program of free exchange of old electric incandescent lamps for energy-saving LED lamps.

From January 16, we start the program in beta testing mode. At the first stage, we plan to replace up to 500,000 lamps in six regions of Ukraine. After that, in approximately two weeks, the project will start in normal mode throughout the territory of Ukraine.

Everyone will be able to submit an application through Diya and then receive 5 new lamps at the nearest Ukrposhta branch. The whole process will be as simple and fast as possible.

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

Returning to social benefits. In 2022, the state paid:
– UAH 10.2 billion in child birth assistance;
– UAH 13.7 billion to low-income families;
– UAH 14.8 billion for persons with disabilities, including children; – UAH 5.5 billion for large families.

Also, UAH 29 billion was paid as social insurance assistance. Of these, more than UAH 12 billion are hospital expenses.

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

An important component of support for IDPs is compensation to employers for their employment – UAH 6,500 for two months for each migrant worker. Last year, almost UAH 199 million was paid to employers within the framework of this program. Now we make a decision according to which the amount of compensation will increase to UAH 6,700. This will stimulate businesses to more actively attract internally displaced persons to their enterprises.

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

We have the ambition 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 of a person.

In the pension sector, we plan to develop a cumulative pension. It is very important to give Ukrainians the opportunity to take care of their old age at a young age.

And the main thing. The year 2023 will be the year not only of Ukrainian victory, but also the year when the great reconstruction of the damaged and destroyed will begin.

The scale of these destructions is colossal. We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars in losses. Accordingly, Ukraine’s recovery program will be the largest reconstruction project since World War II. We have already identified 4 key sources of its funding.

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

The second source of financing will be direct funds from the state budget. This year, UAH 35.5 billion will also go to the Fund for the Liquidation of the Consequences of Armed Aggression by paying part of its profit to the NBU.

The third source is funds from international partners. There are already the first steps in this direction. The USA decided to allocate 1.4 billion dollars or more than 56 billion UAH for the reconstruction of Ukraine. We expect the receipt of these funds in the near future.

The fourth source is the funds of donors from all over the world which are collected on the United24 platform and the creation of which was initiated by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The first projects have already been selected and there are appropriate funds. Hundreds of families will be able to return to their own homes and a normal life.

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

As of now, the total amount for recovery from sources we already understand is about UAH 110 billion.

In total, this year we expect to receive 17 billion dollars or 680 billion UAH 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 everything even better than it was.

Ukraine will win. Let’s keep in line. Glory to the Armed Forces!
Glory to Ukraine!

Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration

12-01-2023

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