The Government of the Independent approved the budget of the Pension Fund of the country for 2018. To make ends meet, the government will have to grant the foundation grants of 139 billion hryvnia ($ 4.85 billion). In Kiev, to this state of affairs are used to. Moreover, last year the arrears in the Pension Fund were even greater. As follows from the document approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, the amount of the revenue side of the Pension Fund budget is UAH 353.6 billion ($ 12.3 billion), the expenditure part - UAH 345.8 billion ($ 12.1 billion). These figures already include the necessary amount of appropriations from the state budget to finance pension programs, the press service of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine explained..

"The envisaged amount of allocations makes it possible to ensure the payment of pensions, allowances and increases, cover the deficit of the funds of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in accordance with the current legislation," the ministry said..

The huge deficit of the Pension Fund's budget was formed despite the fact that the Ukrainian authorities decided to save money on payments to elderly citizens. In October last year, the Verkhovna Rada approved the law on pension reform. Its holding became one of the requirements for obtaining the next tranche of lending from the International Monetary Fund.

In accordance with the reform, pensioners slightly raised the subsistence level from 1,312 to 1,452 hryvnia (from $ 46 to $ 51). At the same time, the law significantly increased the length of insurance experience, on which it depends, the Ukrainian will leave for a pension of 60 or 65 years. Experts say this innovation as a "hidden increase in retirement age".

By 2028 year. the minimum length of service for retirement is 35 years. And because of the decrease in the pension age for most older Ukrainians, the amount of payments will decrease by about a third.

Head of the Center for Innovation Consulting KDA Dmitry Korneychuk believes that the Ukrainian government is simply plundering the population in order to somehow close the debts to Western creditors.

The hole in the pension budget is gaping for more than a year. Last year, the income of the Pension Fund of Ukraine amounted to UAH 284 billion ($ 9.9 billion), of this amount, subsidies to cover the deficit amounted to almost half - 141 billion hryvnia ($ 4.9 billion).