The funds of local budgets must improve the lives of people in the community and not be kept on deposits - President
12.11.2018 18:32 | Press office of President
During the Regional Development Council, President Petro Poroshenko stressed that for the first time, the share of local budgets in the consolidated budget of Ukraine exceeded 50% and local budget revenues grew from 69 billion hryvnias to 231 billion in four years. According to him, the share of own revenues of local budgets in GDP has increased from 5% to more than 7%, and the amount of state support for community development and infrastructure development has increased 39-fold over four years.
"Another problem. Billions of hryvnias from local budgets are kept on deposits. My friends, I will contact the banking institutions and ask them to made this information public in the context of each community. If community leaders do not need the funds, say it! This is approximately the sum our army needs to transform our inherited ammunition dumps into modern warehouses with reliable and high-tech security systems that completely exclude the influence of human factor and sabotage," the President said.
"Only receiving interest on deposits is not enough. Money should be invested in the implementation of important local projects, work for the community, generate new jobs, improve the lives of people in the community,” the President noted.
The President stressed that, according to the forecasts, growth will be continued in Ukraine in the coming years. "If we rebuff populists during the elections, if we do not allow them to nullify the macroeconomic stabilization built by society, decentralization will bring more funds," he said.
The President also said that yesterday he had a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of France Emmanuel Macron. They discussed the issues of decentralization and readiness to increase the volume of advisory assistance to Ukraine. "If any local head needs consultations on how to use the funds of the community, we can give access to the best foreign practices," the Head of State said.