KYIV. Feb 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Leaders of non-governmental organizations and non-state pension funds have demanded Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers facilitate the introduction of a fully-funded pension system from 2020 and expressed concerns that the second stage of the pension reform will be postponed indefinitely due to the delay in the consideration of draft law No. 6677, which provides for its introduction.

"Today, Ukraine has entered a new political cycle - the election of the president and parliament, and if the second level of the pension system is not introduced from January 1 of next year, as the law determines, there will be no opportunity to complete this crucial phase of pension reform for at least the next four years," Center for Civil Liberties Head Halyna Tretyakova said at a press conference held at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

She recalled that the pension reform envisaged the introduction of the second level of the pension system from 2019, but bill No. 6677 was not submitted to parliament.

"Concerning draft law No. 6677, strange, in the opinion of the public, processes are taking place in the Verkhovna Rada. The Cabinet of Ministers points out that this is a bill of people's deputies, but the government has not proposed its draft law. Unfortunately, as long as the opposition to it persists, it will not be passed," she said.

"Our draft bill No. 6677 was ignored. There is a lot of support for it in parliament, but external forces influence the fact that the bill was not floored," Samopomich Party faction deputy Natalia Veselova said.

Natalia Kovaleva, the board chairman of the non-state pension fund Emerit-Ukraine, said there are 62 non-state pension funds operating in Ukraine, with about 900,000 Ukrainians participating in them, with savings reaching UAH 2 billion

As earlier reported, bill No. 6677 on the introduction of a full-funded system of obligatory state pension insurance, sponsored by a group of deputies from different factions, proposes to introduce a decentralized system through non-state pension funds.

Under the bill, part of mandatory contributions to the pension system should be accumulated on the pension accounts of citizens who pay such contributions. These funds will be invested in Ukraine's economy to obtain investment income and protect from inflationary processes.

In late December, the Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policies published by the IMF said that for the duration of the IMF Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Ukraine the introduction of the second (full-funded) stage of the pension system would be suspended.

Social Policy Minister Andriy Reva said that the Cabinet of Ministers is ready to support the introduction of the full-funded pension system if the parliament passes this bill.