During his speech at the XIV Ukrainian Municipal Forum President Petro Poroshenko emphasised that financial capabilities of hromadas had greatly expanded as a result of decentralisation, and called for their effective use on the ground.

“Previously, local self-government bodies, and everyone knows it, so there is no need for persuasion, used to be salary paying offices. No development, no strategy could be implemented, as there was no adequate financial support. And now, local self-government bodies are think tanks, where the development strategy is planned and ensured,” the President underlined.

According to him, this is the case, because hromadas have their own revenue base, which no longer depends on anyone. “I can emphasise that we dreamed about it for many, many years, and not event for decades. Because, in addition to their own revenue base, they also have guaranteed support from the state budget,” he said.

The President stressed: “I would like to voice one very reflecting figure, which, in my opinion, clearly demonstrates the decentralisation achievement from a financial point of view. Finally, the share of local budgets with transfers in the consolidated budget of Ukraine will be 51.5% by the results of this year.”

“It has never before happened that most of the state money has been in hromadas,” the President said.

The Head of State reminded that when he was an MP and head of the parliamentary budget committee, the share of local budgets barely exceeded 30%, in 2014 – 2015 it was 45%.

He stressed that the movement towards increase of the local budgets’ share will be continued: “Over the past four years, we have jointly made a huge redistribution in favour of whom – in favour of citizens of Ukraine, in favour of hromadas.”

“This is our common achievement, and we have to convey whereupon the roads, lighting, kindergartens, and the prestige of work in local self-government bodies appeared in our country. The salaries of employees increased. An additional motivation has been created,” the President noted.

The head of state also said that there is an even more pronounced indicator. “This year, the share of local taxes and fees in local budgets' own revenues is previewed to be 30%. There is own revenue base, which nobody interferes. This is your money. In 2014, before decentralisation began, it was less than 1%. In 2015, after the first year of the reform, it has grown to almost 27%,” said Petro Poroshenko.

According to him, since 2014 the state support for hromadas’ development and their infrastructure building has increased by 39 times. “I think this is a very pronounced figure. In 2014, it was half a billion, now it is almost twenty billion hryvnias. This is a very vivid demonstration of the determination and efficiency of the actions of the state, authorities, the President, the Government towards decentralisation,” the President noted.