Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced that the moratorium on checks by state agencies of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will be extended to the next year, 2018.

"I am sure that we, together with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers, will prolong the moratorium on inspections of small- and medium-sized companies. At least I propose to analyze it," Poroshenko said at a meeting of businesses and government in Kyiv on Friday.

According to him, it is necessary to step up the reform of the regulatory authorities.

The president recalled that the current moratorium on business audits by regulators ceases to be effective from January 1, 2018.

"The reform of the [supervisory] agencies is not completed, and the hordes of workers of the controlling bodies, not only law-enforcers, are now at a low start, waiting for this moratorium to end. They have got tired without work and got hungry for bribes," Poroshenko said.

As reported, in November 2016, the Verkhovna Rada passed bill No. 3153 dated September 18, 2015, on the specifics of the implementation of measures of state supervision (control) in the sphere of economic activity. During debates on the bill, the Rada prolonged the moratorium on the implementation by state agencies of a significant number of planned inspections of economic entities until the end of 2017.