The memorandum on financial and economic policy, updated as part of the second review of the EFF program with the International Monetary Fund, has 12 new structural benchmarks, including the restart of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) until the end of June 2024, said the first deputy head of the parliamentary committee on finance, taxation and customs policy, Yaroslav Zhelezniak.

“For the near future, until February 2024, only one condition has been added: to find sources to increase our own budget revenues in 2024 by 0.5% of GDP, at least if necessary. This is about UAH 38 billion more,” he indicated on Telegram.

According to the deputy, by the end of March it is necessary to make changes to the procedural code regarding the consideration of cases in the first instance by one anti-corruption judge or a panel of three anti-corruption judges.

By the end of June, in addition to rebooting the BES, an external audit of the financial condition of district heating companies should be carried out, debt separation before and after February 2022.

“By the end of July conduct an audit of tax benefits and losses for the design of the reform, adopt a law that will launch a new court to consider administration cases against government agencies (the NBU, the NABU, the NACP),” Zhelezniak said.

He added that the updated program also involves the development by the end of August of a state ownership policy for state-owned enterprises, a dividend policy and a privatization strategy, and by the end of September - the identification of state-owned companies most affected by the war and the assessment of fiscal and quasi-fiscal risks, as well as the completion of an external audit of the effectiveness of the NABU with the participation of three independent experts with international experience and the publication of its report.

In addition, by the end of October, a diagnosis of the process of preparing the medium-term budget should be carried out to strengthen the strategic approach to the budget, and by the end of 2024, a Cabinet resolution with an action plan and timeline should be adopted, which will establish a clear connection between medium-term budget planning and capital expenditures, and will also determine the Ministry of Finance responsible for supervision.

“And one more permanent structural benchmark has been added that all banks majority owned by the state remain under the management of the Ministry of Finance. All nationalized non-systemic banks will be transferred to the Deposit Guarantee Fund,” Zhelezniak indicated.

He added that of the existing benchmarks in the program, the deadline for updating the Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program was moved to the end of March 2024, and the one for the rehabilitation of the banking sector was moved from the end of March to the end of December 2024.

“In general, the situation for all 35 structural benchmarks: 13 were completed on time, four were completed without deadlines, two were postponed, four were in the process of implementation, 12 were new,” summed up the MP.