The losses of state mines in the first half of the current year amounted to UAH 2 billion, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn has said at a press conference in Kyiv.

"There will be another meeting of the governmental committee. We will submit it [the program of reforming the coal industry] the third time, but this time with the support of Ernst & Young. They looked and said yes, the losses in the first half of 2015 were UAH 2 billion," he said.

Demchyshyn noted that the main problem is the low level of production due to a lack of state funds for mine development.

"The main problem is that there is no production as basic costs are wages... These same people could extract more if they had equipment," the minister said.

"I am very sorry that we cannot invest money because production can be doubled when investment is UAH 500 million," he added.

Earlier First Deputy Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Ihor Martynenkov said the program of reforming the coal industry, in particular, foresees the allocation of UAH 3.7 billion from the budget within a year and a half, which will allow state mines to reduce the cost of coal to UAH 1,100-1,200 per tonne (excluding VAT).