Ukraine's government announced the first steps of it cost-cutting program on March 5. They include slashing financing of 42 state programs, as well as the sale of expensive car fleet and properties maintained at taxpayers' cost, Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said.
Shlapak said some 1,500 government-owned vehicles are undergoing inventory before the sale, including 1,132 vehicles owned by the central government. The March 1 resolution of the Cabinet specifies that the sale has to be open and transparent, under public supervision.
“Fulfilling this Cabinet resolution will help save budget costs spent on executive power, and will help to get additional funds to the state budget,” the resolution says.
Shlapak hopes the cars will fetch a total Hr 40 million for the state coffers. Also, a number of state-owned real estate objects will be transferred to the State Property Fund for sale, but he did not provide any specifics.
“We received the country with an empty treasury, corrupt from the very top to the very bottom,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said at a Cabinet meeting today, before inquiring about cost-cutting options.
Although a step in the right direction, the cutback on taxpayer-sponsored vehicles only represents a 33.8 percent cut of the total fleet of the central government, and a 15 percent cut for local government, according to the Cabinet information.
Shlapak said that Cabinet also approved a ban on purchase of any cars, mobiles phones and laptops at taxpayers’ cost. Upgrades of offices and charter flights at government expense will also be banned.
Yatseniuk plans to lead by example by taking a regular flight to Brussels on March 6, one of his staff members said. He said the move is “unprecedented” in Ukraine.
Shlapak said that the government is keeping “one of two vehicles per ministry” to transport the ministers, as well most service vehicles, such as fire trucks.
He also said that the Cabinet stopped financing some 42 government programs and 82 projects due to lack of cash.
He said most of them were financed to the tune of 1-3 percent of their needs, which was wasteful and ineffective. He said all projects will be reviwed and prioritized by the new government, which was approved last week.
“It doesn’t mean that these projects won’t be implemented, it means that we will analyze if we really have funds for these investments,” Shlapak said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Solomiya Zinevych can be reache at [email protected]
