Volodymyr Groysman: Government doesn't plan to increase wages of MPs in the State budget for 2017

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The Government does not support the proposal of MPs concerning raising wages for members of Parliament and does not plan such an increase in the State budget for 2017. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said on the air of the ICTV channel on Sunday evening.

"We do not support a recommendation to increase almost twofold the salary to MPs. We believe that such changes are in fact not timely and cannot take place presently", said Volodymyr Groysman.

"There is no signle word in the Budget about twofold raising of wages for MPs. It is a decision of the Parliament. The parliamentarians made such an amendment to the Ordinance and the Ordinance contains that. That is actually the Parliament that lifted restrictions for itself, but these restrictions could not be financed as there is no resource in 2016 Budget, and there is no doubt that the Government won’t back such two-times increase for next year as well. I think that"s fair", said the Head of Government.

The Prime Minister stressed that urgent issues to focus on include larger wages for the Ukrainian citizens as well as increase of minimum pension, changing the pension system. The Government is working on this issue, he said.

In this direction, the Government laid in the Budget for 2017 wage hikes for doctors and teachers, as well as increase of other social expenditures.

Thus, from 1 December 2016 to 1 December 2017, the minimum pension and wage will up in line with current norms and in line with the draft Budget all totaled by 20%, said Volodymyr Groysman.

"It"s insufficient. It is very important to ensure we focus more on the support of a large number of people. I think people should be informed that the Parliament keeps this situation under review and, definitely, the issue is under the constant attention of the Government. We must unite, and give people a chance to live a normal and decent life. Here is our essential objective”, stressed the Prime Minister.

Among other priorities fixed by the Government in the draft Budget for 2017 are as follows: an increased funding for national security and defense, into the real sector of economy, particularly in a major road construction, thereby stimulating the creation of jobs.

Moreover, it is envisaged the support for small and medium-sized farms. The Government is considering here the possibility of expanding the tax base in order to direct into this sector about UAH 10 billion instead of UAH 5.5 billion planned earlier.

The Prime Minister reminded that in the previous plenary week the Verkhovna Rada had adopted the conclusions and proposals to the draft Law of Ukraine On State budget of Ukraine for 2017. The Government will finalize these conclusions and recommendations and reach a consolidated position in two weeks, said Volodymyr Groysman.

"Constructive positions, ideas that are progressive, will be supported by us. In particular, I believe that it is a good initiative to resolve the problems and enhance the support for Ukrainian farmers, and science. Those are the things that we must address these days. And, of course, there are some proposals we can"t support. In particular, there are offers to the tune of almost UAH 900 billion, which are completely unsubstantiated", he urged.