During a working visit to the Khmelnytskyi Oblast, President Petro Poroshenko said that in close cooperation with the Parliament, Ukraine implemented enormous reforms, the first of which is decentralisation.

"In 2018, for the first time the share of local budgets in the consolidated state budget is 51%," Petro Poroshenko said.

The President stressed that his principled position was that the lion's share of money through the implementation of the decentralisation programme should be given to the hromadas.

At the same time, he noted that there were some initiatives not to use those funds for the development of local hromadas, but to put money from local budgets into a bank for five years and earn on deposits. "Friends, what do we have here? A banking business or a service to the people?" the President said.

Petro Poroshenko stressed: "Every kopeck should be invested in school, kindergarten, new road, lighting, development of rural healthcare programme".

The President emphasised the inadmissibility of using these funds for attempts to bribe voters: "Stop, money was not given for this. Otherwise, a decision will be taken to control the use of budget money, to regulate it".

"We have managed to significantly increase the state budget more than twice, local budgets have grown 3-4 times, budgets of development 5-6-7 times, and somewhere 12 times in 3,5 years," the Head of State noted.

He added: "When we gave money, resources, now we have the right to ask - how does every kopeck work for the Ukrainian citizen, which is now undergoing serious challenges?"