Wage arrears in Ukraine as of September 9, 2013 stood at UAH 959 million, including UAH 336 million at state-owned enterprises, First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov has said.

"Wage arrears amounted to UAH 959 million as of September 9, including UAH 336 million at state-owned enterprises, UAH 27 million at municipally-owned enterprises and UAH 595 million at the enterprises of other forms of ownership," his press service quoted him as saying on Friday during a meeting on the repayment of wage arrears, the payment of contributions to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, and the legalization of employment.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Income and Tax Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Social Policy Ministry, the Pension Fund, the State Employment Service, the State Labor Inspectorate, the Prosecutor General's Office, as well as regional authorities and social partners.

Arbuzov noted that some central executive government agencies and local authorities had increased their wage arrears. As an example, he cited Ukroboronprom, the Infrastructure Ministry, the State Space Agency, the Defense Ministry, the State Agency for Management of State Corporate Rights and Property, the State Reserve Agency, as well as Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Ternopil regional state administrations.

Arbuzov stressed the need to speed up the execution of his instructions on the development of debt repayment schedules and said that by September 1 such schedules had been submitted by only the Defense Ministry and Ukroboronprom.

"I demand that the Infrastructure Ministry, the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry and the Regional Development Ministry immediately execute this instruction," he said.