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Gov't Salaries Raised Ahead of Elections
In what looks like a populist move to win votes, Ukraine 's government raised salaries for many state employees by about 30 percent on March 9, three weeks before the heated March 26 parliamentary elections.
The resolution, signed on March 9, goes into effect retroactively, starting Jan. 1 of this year. It affects hundreds of thousands of state employees: advisors and low-level staff at the Presidential Secretariat, Cabinet employees, officials at regional and district administrations, and staff at prosecutors offices and the tax administration.
Few would disagree that cash-strapped state employees deserve salary hikes. Their current salaries are often as low as $150-300 per month.
Appearing on Ukrainian television channel 1+1 late on March 21, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said that the salary hikes are part of a strategy to reduce corruption within the echelons of Ukraine 's government.
"This is one of the elements in fighting corruption," he said, referring to larger salaries as a method of removing the motivation behind the taking of bribes and kickbacks within the halls of government.
Now, the salaries of senior-level officials at the Presidential Secretariat stand at almost Hr 2,400 ($475). A deputy chief of staff at the Kyiv City Administration will be getting just under Hr 1,800 ($350), far below the income of many Kyiv residents. In comparison, computer programmers and bartenders at popular Kyiv venues can earn monthly incomes in the $300 range. However, they often do not declare their income in full to tax authorities, if at all.
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