Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says that the pension system in Ukraine will be changed in 2017.
"I believe that we have every reason to say that the pension system will be will changed in 2017. It will be fair, and retirees will experience an increase in pension payments. The system needs to be radically changed and we are ready to offer the Ukrainian society such solutions. There is time for everything," the prime minister told a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Earlier, the internet publication Economichna Pravda has published a draft memorandum of the Ukrainian government with the International Monetary Fund.
According to the document, Ukraine undertakes to carry out pension reform envisaging a raise in the retirement age before the end of March 2017: for men – by four months each year, starting from July 2017; for women - by six months every year since 2021. By the year 2027, the retirement age for both men and women is supposed to reach 63 years.
The memorandum also envisages an increase in the pension insurance record to 25 years starting from January 2017 with the introduction of minimum insurance period of 16 years. The insurance period needs to be risen by 12 months every year to reach 35 years by 2036.
On 6 February, Finance Minister Oleksander Danyluk said that the updated memorandum of cooperation with the IMF contains no requirement to rise the retirement age in Ukraine, but suggests a change of the pension system, in particular regarding the minimum insurance period.