МP from the Opposition bloc Serhiy Lovochkin requires the Cabinet to solve the problem of non-payment of wages to citizens. He sent the relevant deputy inquiry to the Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

“I ask to take effective steps for solving the problem of non-payment of wages to citizens. I ask you to inform me about the results of the events in the statutory period,” Serhiy Lovochkin noted.

The MP stressed that the salary debts continue to grow at a rapid pace. By early October, their volume has already reached a record level for the last 15 years – almost UAH 2.5 billion.

The politician recalled that in June he had already sent a deputy inquiry to the Prime Minister, in which he drew the government’s attention to the need to solve the problem on the growth of wage arrears, leading to a significant deterioration in the standard of living.

“But, despite the many inspections, meetings and conferences discussed in the response of the Ministry of Social Policy to the above-mentioned inquiry, the Cabinet of Ministers failed to take effective measures to resolve the issue of wage arrears. This is evidenced by an increase in their volume during September this year by 5.6% or by UAH 132 million. Since the beginning of this year, this debt has grown by more than a third, or nearly UAH 677 million,” the MP emphasized.

According to him, the government’s attempts to explain this dynamics with the consequences of the situation in Donbas and, in particular, the winter blockade of the region are inconclusive, because the companies in the ATO zone and in uncontrolled territories are not included in the statistics since January 2015.

Lovochkin added that high growth rates of salary debts were fixed during this year in regions remote from the venue of the ATO. “The absolute leader was Rivne oblast, where the arrears of wages increased from the beginning of the year by 1027.9%. Debt in Volyn (521.6%), Ivano-Frankivsk (337.5%), Cherkassy (264.3%) and Khmelnytsky (192.9%) oblasts increased by more than 100%. Since the beginning of the year, debts have grown in 21 regions, that is almost all over the country,” the politician stressed.

The MP is particularly concerned about the growth of wage arrears in the sectors of the economy that are of fundamental importance for the stable functioning of the country’s economy and the filling of the budget. In particular, since the beginning of the year, the volume of accumulated debts in industry has increased by almost 44%. As of October 1, it amounted to UAH 1.9 billion or 77% of the total debt on the economy.

“In the social dimension, the statistics cited leads to a significant deterioration in living conditions, since non-payment of wages, which for many people is the only source of income, along with rising prices and tariffs, leaves citizens without means of livelihood and increases poverty,” Serhiy Lovochkin stressed.