Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says that the reform of the structure of the Cabinet of Ministers will be carried out step by step as decisions are ready.

"In general, the issue of optimizing the work of state authorities in Ukraine is a matter of the state efficiency and saving budgetary funds. During the war, the functions of the state, on the one hand, became decisive, and on the other, the effectiveness and necessity of certain functions became very visible. Accordingly, we are moving along the path of reforming the civil service as a whole, and government reform is just the tip of the iceberg, which is simply very noticeable," Shmyhal said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine, answering a question about the continuation of the reform of the structure of the Cabinet of Ministers.

According to him, as each ministry conducts a self-audit of functions, and it is being studied which functions play a decisive role today, and which can be abandoned or reduced, the government will make a decision to reduce or vice versa expand a particular ministry.

"This will not be a reform when we reformat everything momentarily. We plan to move step by step as certain decisions are ready. That is, in one day we will not liquidate a bunch of ministries. This reform should lead to better governance and public service delivery, not a flashy move that we will digest for years to come," the prime minister said.

Answering a clarifying question that the ministries had previously been united, but then separated again, Shmyhal noted that therefore the authorities are now not in a hurry to make decisions, but are doing a deep analysis of what is happening both in Ukraine and in other countries.

"We took 30 states, analyzed where and how many ministries. In developed countries, there are 12-15 ministries, and this is enough. The questions are in the power of the minister and in the correctness of the functions that the ministry should perform. And what is very important: the minister should not be distracted for management. Ministers should formulate policy, while agencies, services, and state-owned companies should be in charge of the real sector management. Then the government will be effective. Actually, this is the essence of the reform," the prime minister summed up.

As reported, on December 2, the Cabinet of Ministers regulated the creation of the Ministry for Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine by merging the Ministry of Infrastructure with the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development.