"People are expecting changes and we
are ready for the most radical, most stringent and
effective reforms in the country in accordance to the current circumstances. The
mission will be done," the Prime Minister
of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk said from the Parliament’s rostrum before
the vote for candidates for
the membership of the Cabinet of Ministers
of Ukraine on Tuesday, 2 December.
This Government faces difficult
tasks, he said: "This is not only the
task of the Government, but all of us. This
is the reason why the Ukrainian people elected us. This is the reason why the
constitutional majority has been formed. And
this is a task that we are
able to perform if there is and will be further unity among
the President of Ukraine, Government and parliamentary
coalition."
"The country is devastated by the war. The country is
devastated by the trade war with
Russia and, first, by Russian military
aggression. The country is
devastated by the political war. The
country needs radical changes and reforms," he
emphasized.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk underlined that the
Government had managed to reduce state budget
expenditures aimed at the maintenance of the
state apparatus by UAH 2 billion over the
last eight months. He
addressed to the MPs that a
new law on the state budget, "which must be approved by
the end of this year, will further reduce
the cost of the state apparatus."
He recalled that the Government had decided
to optimize social spending by
UAH4.5 billion, and stressed
that in 2015 we would also need to "follow the path
of optimizing social spending".
"The Government decided to increase spending
on national defense and security to UAH19 billion. We
should continue to finance national defense and security,"
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
said.
He recalled that the Government had resumed
its cooperation with the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In
general, today Ukraine received USD9
billion of various types of international
financial assistance, "We have paid off debts
that we didn’t take. Taking
into account the debt of Naftogaz Ukrainy, gas debts and all external
payments, Ukraine paid off USD14 billion while received USD9
billion."
The Prime Minister underlined that
the Government would continue to cooperate with
foreign creditors as inflow of
foreign private investment would be hardly possible
in the nearest future. "So, the
basis of investment is international
financial institutions," he stressed and
recalled that on 1 December, he and
President of the European Investment Bank Werner Hoyer had signed
a EUR15 million-agreement to finance a project for the reconstruction, overhaul and re-equipment
of the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod
gas pipeline.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded that two
months ago he had appealed to the MPs to
adopt a law on the modernization of the Ukrainian gas
transportation system, "to stop the construction
of South Stream and invite investors into the Ukrainian GTS": "South Stream, which
was built by Russia, has been stopped."
On the further cooperation with
international financial institutions, the Prime Minister said:
"Nobody will give money for nothing. And
the fact that our international creditors have highly
evaluated the rigidity and accuracy of reforms
carried out by Ukraine is, on
the one hand, a positive issue, but,
on the other, it does not mean that we
have the right to halt. The future will be more difficult. We have to overcome these
impediments."
On the state budget’s revenues, Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that "as of today the Government collected 5 % more of revenues compare with
the data in 2013, despite the fact that the industrial output is minus 10%,
despite the fact we’ve temporarily lost the control over Crimea and over some
regions in Donetsk and Luhansk.
"So, we will continue
to follow this path. Those who earn a
lot, have to pay a lot. Those who need
assistance, including social one, will
receive such assistance. The principle of
justice is a basic principle of a
new Government of Ukraine", the Prime Minister of Ukraine
emphasized.
On external debts, Arseniy Yatsenyuk said
that in 2013 foreign debt amounted to USD73.1 billion, and as
of today it is USD72.9 billion:
"Because of the fall of the exchange rate, which is
a challenge and is caused primarily by
military aggression, and respectively - instability and natural
behavior of domestic and foreign investors, slightly
different figures in hryvnia debt. But this
is the challenge that we all together, including the
National Bank, shall accept and take all
measures to stabilize the foreign exchange rate as well
as the banking sector."
Among the priorities by the
end of the current year Arseniy Yatsenyuk called the adoption of
a new Budget code, which is to devote additional financial powers to
the local governments, changes to
the Tax code in order to reduce the
number of taxes and changes in the tax base, to decrease the
single social tax as well as to introduce a
progressive tax scale: "The fourth task, which follows
from the first three, is the adoption
of a law of Ukraine on the state budget, extremely rough, with
a decrease in the cost of all possible items."
The Prime Minister stressed that 2015 would
be more complex than the current, "because
the economy has a time log":
"Ukraine is heavily affected by the situation in
Donbas, it’s too expensive for
Ukraine. First of all, this is what
you cannot return - the
lives of our people. In terms of economy, for
six months, we will still feel the
downward trend."
"This Government should do what Andrii Sheptytskyi wrote in
his famous book "How to build a native
house."We have the house footing, so, it’s time to build. This
is our joint responsibility to the country-responsibility
for the creation of a Ukrainian state, the future
of the country as well as our citizens," Arseniy Yatsenyuk
said.