Advertisement
EconomyUkraine

President: We have got new opportunities to fight poverty, and we will help more and more elderly people year by year

Petro Poroshenko reminded that starting from March 1, the Government would introduce a new practice - automatic indexing of pensions.

Advertisement

During the working trip to Zaporizhia region, President Petro Poroshenko took part in the Regional Development Council. He emphasized that the reforms and economic growth opened up new opportunities to fight poverty in Ukraine.

“This is the frontline of the fight against poverty. Today, financial resources are gradually emerging for that. Yesterday we didn’t have them, when the economy was recovering from the blow caused by war and economic blockade of Russia,” the Head of State emphasized.

The President reminded that in February the decision was made to start subsidies monetization. “As a whole, almost 4 million Ukrainian households receive subsidies now. I emphasize that 70% of the recipients of the subsidy are pensioners. This figure is even higher in Zaporizhia region,” the Head of State said.

“Why do we transfer money cashless? People do not see the money, cannot take real measures to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption. In March, citizens will receive money in cash and pay for HCS themselves. Why wasn’t that done before? They say: we do not trust Ukrainians – we give them money and they won’t pay. I want to emphasize that I – President of Ukraine Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko definitely trust Ukrainians,” the Head of State noted.

Having received and saved money, pensioners will have an opportunity to keep the change. “The average amount of subsidy is 1600 hryvnias. Given the weather it will be possible to save up to 700-750 hryvnias per month,” the President said.

In addition, Petro Poroshenko reminded that starting from March 1, the Government would introduce a new practice – automatic indexing of pensions. “Pensioners were affected the most during the past 4 years. The minimum wage grew, the average wage grew, but pensions had the lowest growth rate. And now, as a result of indexing, pensions of more than eight million pensioners will be increased,” Petro Poroshenko stressed.

According to him, this is not a one-time action. “From now on, such a procedure will be compulsory every year. It wasn’t done for the elections, as some people want to depict. The decision that the indexing will take place in March 2019 was adopted in 2017. Taking into account the inflation rate and the growth of the average wage, the conversion factor for pensions was set at 17%,” the President underlined.

According to him, the amount of additional payment will start from 100-150 UAH. “Who are these people? Janitress, nurses, people who have experience rate, but low wages. And it is not fair to leave them alone with their problems,” Petro Poroshenko emphasized.

The President also noted that at the Pension Fund meeting, in addition to indexing, he had proposed to pay a one-time benefit to the least-secured pensioners. “This year we will be able to support almost 2 million pensioners who will receive UAH 2410, which will be paid in equal parts in March and April,” the Head of State said.

“Moreover, we will thus be helping more and more elderly people year by year. Of course, this is an additional burden on the budget. We will have to look for additional reserves every year,” the President added. However, he recalled that this year, the Pension Fund had received funds from the legalization of cars with a foreign registration, the so-called “eurobliakhs”.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button