Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree on "urgent measures" to encourage economic growth and regional development and to prevent corruption.

The decree, posted on the website of the presidential office on Friday evening, contains a list of instructions "for the purpose of expediting economic development, further power decentralization, and the prevention of corruption."

The government thus has until January 1, 2020, to submit legislation on the principles of administrative-territorial division, changes to the local election laws, changes boosting the capabilities of regional development agencies, changes stimulating regional development through higher competition among regions, and several legal changes to update labor laws.

The government is also to envision measures in the next year budget, in line with the means justified by needs, to stimulate economic growth, raise living standards, develop the mountainous areas of the Ukrainian Carpathians, and increase funding for regional development.

The government has until October 1, 2019, to submit draft legislation regarding farmland circulation, legalization of the gambling industry, changes to the amber mining laws, and changes to the Budget Code optimizing the use of funding from the Regional Development Fund.

The government additionally has until December 1, 2019, to take steps to reduce illegal employment, not least through so-called de-shadowing of the population's earnings and employment figures.

Furthermore, to increase business access to loans and reduce the cost of mortgage, Zelensky's decree recommends that the National Bank devise mechanisms to reduce the interest rates of commercial banks.

The decree becomes effective from the date of publication.