Most Ukrainian families to be eligible for subsidies by year-end – Ministry of Social Policy

Friday, May 13, 2016 - 15:40 (EEST) Section: Latest news

The number of Ukrainian households who are in need of subsidies will increase by 50% to nine million families in 2016, due to the establishment of a single gas prices for all categories of consumers from May 1, Minister of Social Policy Andriy Reva said during the parliament`s hour of questions to the government on Friday.
”When making decisions, we have taken into account the expected increase in households that will be eligible for subsidies up to 8-9 million households out of nearly 15 million households, which exist today in Ukraine,” he said. As of today, about 5.5 million Ukrainian households receive subsidies.
The Minister said that the government had already submitted to the parliament a bill on raising social standards, which also proposed to increase funding for the program of housing subsidies up to UAH 5.3 billion UAH.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on April 27, the Cabinet of Ministers, as planned, set a single gas price for the population at the level of UAH 6,879 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Presenting the decision, First Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv and Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Ihor Nasalyk said that the establishment of such a price would put an end to speculation on the gas market.
Earlier, during the heating season, some households in Ukraine were able to pay for the consumption of up to 200 cubic meters of gas per month UAH 3,600 hryvnia (about $144) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. When consuming large volumes of gas, the price was UAH 7,200 (about $288) per 1,000 cubic meters.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described the decision to introduce the single price as a serious anti-corruption measure.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said that the decision was uneasy and could trigger broad debates in the public, but it would let Ukraine get rid of all existing schemes that allowed earnings on a difference in gas tariffs.
At the same time, the Cabinet additionally allocated UAH 5.3 billion for subsidies this year to cover the subsidies recipients will have in connection with the introduction of the single price of gas. Thus, gas subsidies in 2016 will exceed UAH 40 billion. The Ukrainian government says that the amount will be enough to cover low-income households` gas costs.