Ukraine parliament fails to complete review of pension reform package

Ukraine’s parliament failed to heed the urges of Prime
Minister Volodymyr Groysman to review and approve the pension reform package
needed for the IMF loan tranche at yesterday’s session, the last full
parliamentary session this month. Work will continue today, but the votes are
still lacking, Poroshenko Bloc MP Serhiy Berezenko told the pravda.com.ua news site. Moreover, he expressed
doubt whether there would be enough votes in favor to call an extraplenary
parliamentary session next week.

With it legislation, the Cabinet of Ministers was aiming
to launch the pension reform on Oct. 1 and satisfy IMF demands to receive a
loan tranche that month. Launching the reform will have also increased pensions
for two million Ukrainians by up to about USD 38 a month.

Zenon Zawada: These
events might delay the next loan tranche beyond October, but we are still
confident in parliament’s approval of the second reading of the pension reform
package in the coming weeks and that it will receive the IMF tranche this year.