Hromadas now have a lot more opportunities and money. It is not just about state support, in course of the five years of decentralisation, local budgets’ own revenues have grown to UAH 234 billion, informed Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, in the live broadcast of the Espreso TV channel.

“Prior to the reform, in 2014, own revenues of local self-government amounted to about UAH 70 billion, by the end of 2015 – already almost UAH 100 billion. And everyone was saying that this was the ultimate achievement. But by the end of 2016 the revenues amounted to UAH 147 billion, in 2017 – to UAH 193 billion, and in 2018 – to UAH 234 billion. In 2019 we expect UAH 267 billion of local budgets’ own revenues to come,” said Hennadii Zubko.

According to him, in addition to the growth of local budgets and state support for infrastructure, rural healthcare and education, hromadas are financially supported by Europe. Thus, in 2018, 70 regional projects were launched at the expense of the European Union within the framework of the Sector Policy Support Programme of Ukraine. The total amount of financing is more than UAH 600 million. These are the first 70 regional start-ups that won in the competitive selection in 5 directions: innovative economy and investments, rural development, human development, tourism development, all-Ukrainian solidarity. This is another direction of powerful state support for the development of hromadas and their infrastructure.