In April, the main changes will concern the personal finances of Ukrainians. The minimum salary and pension will increase, teachers will receive more.
But some categories of citizens, on the contrary, will lose part of their income. And larger figures may appear in utility bills.
The minimum wage and pension will increase
From April 1, the minimum wage in Ukraine will increase by 900 hryvnias. It will amount to 8,000 hryvnias, hourly - 48 hryvnias.
Such changes were foreseen by the state budget for 2024. The last time the minimum wage was raised in January of this year - to 7,100 hryvnias. In 2023, the minimum wage never changed and was 6,700 hryvnias.
The new amount of the minimum wage will affect the amount of some taxes and fines that are tied to it, as well as hospital and maternity benefits.
The minimum pension will also increase and from April it will amount to 3,200 hryvnias instead of 2,840 hryvnias.
Civil servants are being cut, and so are their salaries
The Cabinet of Ministers decided to reduce the number of civil servants by 19,300 from April 1. These changes will apply to both local authorities and ministries and agencies.
Vacant positions will mainly be reduced and such changes will affect the salaries of employees of state authorities.
And all because the wage fund of civil servants was formed according to the maximum number of employees, including vacant positions, and this made it possible to significantly increase the salaries of employees.
"Incentive allowances were of unlimited sizes. For example, in one of the structural subdivisions of the State Administration, the salary of an employee of the accounting department was 11,000 hryvnias, and the bonus was 620 percent," said Deputy Minister of Finance Roman Yermolychev.
However, some heads of regional state administrations expressed fears that such a wage reform would lead to an outflow of civil servants.
PHOTO AUTHOR, UNIAN Photo caption, In many schools, teachers conduct lessons remotely
Teachers will be paid more
Teachers' salaries will increase in April. This will be the second salary increase for educators since the beginning of 2024. In January, the government raised wages by 10%, and from April 1 – by 12.6%.
Indexing has not been carried out since the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation.
In April, teachers' salaries will increase by approximately 1,000 hryvnias. As the Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi said, the average teacher's salary will be 16,000 hryvnias.
Payments under the "Child is not alone" program
In April, the government introduced a new type of child support under the "Child is not alone" program.
We are talking about children who were left without parents, but did not acquire the status of an orphan child or a child deprived of parental care.
The money will be received by those persons who temporarily took in such children - relatives, acquaintances, as well as if the child was sheltered by a foster family or a family-type orphanage.
PHOTO AUTHOR, GETTY Photo caption During the war, more than 10,000 children were left without parental care
Assistance was introduced so that families in which such children are temporarily staying could provide them with the necessary conditions and care.
Depending on the age of the child, the amount of payments will range from UAH 6,407 to UAH 8,000. If the child has a disability - from UAH 8,970 to UAH 11,190.
The government decree provides that such funds will be paid within six months to those who are in Ukraine. For this, future recipients of assistance should contact social services.
According to human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, since the beginning of the war, more than 10,000 children have been left without parental care. More than 1.6 thousand of them are due to the death or death of their parents.
PHOTO BY GETTY
Water tariffs will increase
An increase in tariffs for cold water for domestic consumers is planned for April.
Previously, suppliers promised not to change the prices of services for the public until the end of the heating season. The heating has already started to be turned off, but even before that, some local supply companies announced about the increase in tariffs.
In particular, in Kyiv, the cost of cold water will increase from UAH 30.38 to UAH 40.77 per cubic meter.
Tariffs will be changed differently depending on the region. Significant growth is expected, in particular, in Vinnytsia and Dnipro.
Moreover, it was planned that the tariff increase in April would not be the last. The next one is scheduled for July 1.
Last year, the NCRECP already adopted a decision to increase the tariff for cold water by an average of 32%, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stopped such plans.
As for electricity, there are currently no official reports of a price increase, but experts assumed that it could happen shortly after the end of the heating season.
At least, the moratorium on increasing the cost of services during martial law applies only to gas, heating and hot water.
PHOTO BY GETTY
Humanitarian goods - only according to electronic declarations
From April 1, all humanitarian goods that will cross the Ukrainian border must be registered only electronically, in the Unified Automated System.
The government explained that the new system is being introduced in order to stop abuses in this area. According to the State Customs Service, a third of the humanitarian aid intended for the military went to the shadows.
When the government decided on electronic registration in December of last year, volunteers who transport goods needed by the army to Ukraine were indignant that this would slow down the flow of aid.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to establish a transition period of four months, until April 2024, so that all organizations or individuals would be able to issue customs declarations in both paper and electronic form. Now this transition period is over.
