The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and Coal Mining has prepared a bill on amending the state budget to provide for the allocation of UAH 1 billion in financial support to state-owned coal mines, the ministry`s press service reported.
The draft bill has already been considered by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety and was unanimously supported by its members, according to the report.
The ministry noted that since many state-owned coal mines were incurring losses, funds earmarked for the restructuring of mines were often spent to keep the mines afloat. The ministry proposed to allocate additional funds to support the state-owned coal mines.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on March 31, 2016, the Ukrainian parliament adopted the draft law according to which UAH350 million in public funds allocated for the Energy Ministry to carry out restructuring of state-owned coal enterprises would be channeled to support their operations.
On May 13, the Energy Ministry urged the parliament to make changes to the 2016 state budget with regard to the necessary funding for the mining sector restructuring program.
The program provides for the closure of unprofitable mines, payment of salaries to miners and employment facilitation for workers that have been laid off. It is proposed that a number of coal enterprises will also be shut.
On June 14, representatives of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, citing Energy Minister Ihor Nasalyk, stated that the Energy Ministry was planning to allocate UAH850 million in state subsidies in 2017 to support state-owned coal enterprises.
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