REUTERS
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said the pension reform of Ukraine, subject to qualitative reforms, could become deficit-free by 2024.
"The deficit of the pension fund is almost 50%. The pension system cannot work like this, given that 80% of Ukrainian pensioners receive a minimum pension. We must change the system, create a system that will be fair to working people; and this will mean that, according to our calculations, this system can become absolutely self-sufficient and non-deficient by 2024," he said at a business forum in Kyiv.
According to Groysman, the government is already actively working on the pension reform and will publicly present it within two months.
Read alsoUkraine's social minister: Pension reform not finalized yetAs UNIAN reported earlier, pension reform is part of the reform program approved by the International Monetary Fund. However, the memorandum signed between the government of Ukraine and the IMF management in September 2016 does not contain strict rules for raising the retirement age. It provides only recommendations for narrowing the Pension Fund's deficit because it is covered with budget funds at the moment. The subsidies the Pension Fund plans to receive from the national budget in 2017 exceed UAH 140 billion, or about $5.18 billion.
Read alsoCabinet expects to make pension fund deficit-free by 2024At the moment, the government and the IMF are developing a model of pension reform without an obligatory increase in the retirement age.