Saakashvili: Salaries of Ukrainian officials should be raised to thousands of dollars

The salaries of the Ukrainian government officials should be increased to several thousand dollars, former Georgian President and head of the Ukrainian International Advisory Council on Reforms Mikheil Saakashvili said after a meeting of the Board of Reforms on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian online news service Apostrophe.

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"If we look at today’s salaries of the government officials, we can say that they are either saints or they steal, no middle ground," he said.

Saakashvili recommended reducing the state apparatus, hiring new people and setting the average salary for officials at the level of several thousand dollars.

As reported earlier, on February 13 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree establishing the International Advisory Council on Reforms and appointed Mikheil Saakashvili its head.

The government recently introduced legislation to cap the wages of civil servants at the level of seven minimum wages, or just over UAH 8,000, which at the current exchange rate is less than $330.

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