The Ukrainian parliament has passed at first reading the government's amendments to the law on state guarantees to restore deposits of Ukrainian citizens in Soviet-era Sberbank and Ukrgosstrakh (No. 10355), foreseeing the payment of refunding not only in cash, but also in a cashless form.
A total of 237 MPs supported the draft law at first reading late on May 17, 2012.
Deputy Finance Minister Serhiy Rybak said, presenting the document, that its adoption would allow the continuation of the stocktaking of deposits, and their refunding.
The draft also empowers the cabinet to define a procedure for refunding deposits and the possibility to get money for funerals for the relatives of deceased insured persons.
The document says that payments will be performed on the basis of the register of deposits of citizens.
Among other changes is the exclusion of the official currency reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) from the list of sources of payments, taking into account the age of depositors during the defining of the queue, the refusal to return compensation certificates and the narrowing of state Soviet era securities to those that were sold via Sberbank on the territory of Ukraine.
Rybak said that the government agreed to leave a requirement to carry out the indexation of deposits after holding consultations with nongovernmental organizations.
According to an explanatory note to the draft, the register of deposits of citizens included data on defaulted deposits of around 11.8 million of Ukrainian citizens as of January 1, 2012, and the funds on accounts to be refunded total Hr 49.8 billion: Nearly 6.4 million people obtained refunding of Hr 1,000 in 2008 (a total of Hr 5.8 billion).
"The forecasted number of persons who can apply to Oschadbank to obtain refunding of deposits made in the period before January 2, 1992 to Soviet Sberbank – is six million (the total volume of funds on their accounts is Hr 50 billion)," reads the note.
As reported, the government headed by former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko in 2008, decided to pay up to Hr 1,000 to each depositor of the former Soviet Sberbank. Only a half of the depositors received the compensation, following which the program was suspended due to a lack of funds and, as Tymoshenko claimed at that time, because of resistance of President Viktor Yuschenko and parliament.
In her presidential campaign in 2010, which she lost to Yanukovych, Tymoshenko promised to resume the repayment of the depreciated savings and pay the compensations in full within three years – if she won the election.
On March 7, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to ensure the payment in June through December 2012 of up to Hr 1,000 to each of the six million depositors of the former Soviet Sberbank as compensation for depreciated deposits. In April, amendments were made to the 2012 national budget, according to which Hr 6.15 billion was allocated for this initiative.
In addition, Yanukovych instructed the government to continue payments of defaulted deposits in 2013-2015.
