The situation in the pension system is stable, and amendments introduced in the autumn of 2017 will allow to gradually increase the possibilities of the Pension Fund, hence to raise retirement payments. This statement was issued by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman during a meeting with veterans of the metallurgical industry in Mariupol, where he is on a working visit.

"This is the first working trip in this year, and it takes place here in Mariupol", stressed the Prime Minister, " On June 1, last year, exactly in Mariupol I promised, that a pension reform will be carried out and we will restore respect to working people… Today I am here and we are putting into practice the reform. The target remains the same, in particular to raise pensions for those who have a long working experience, but whose salary was small. And this task will also be completed. Retirement payments will increase."

The Prime Minister stressed that in 2016 and 2017, it had become possible to halt the decline of the economy and give impetus to the development of industries, inter alia agriculture sector, gas production, etc.

"The top priority for the Government is the economic growth. And the economy has to demonstrate strong upturn at a more moderate pace - 5-7%. This encapsulates hundreds of billions of Ukrainian products, wages, tens and hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and a normal quality of life. Economic achievements will be invested in a quality of life of people", the Head of Government stated.

Background

In the fall of 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the package of legislative initiatives elaborated by the Government, which is the basis of the pension reform. The reform envisages introduction of an automatic system for raising retirement payments , preserving retirement age and putting intro practice a differentiated approach to the calculation of pensions that will be depending on the length of service.