OREANDA-NEWS. July 29, 2015. Finance Minister of Ukraine Natalia Jaresko has reported on the results of H1 2015 and pointed out further priorities of the Ministry’s activity during a board meeting of the Ministry.

"When more than half a year ago the current Government was formed, Ukraine's economy was in dire straits. During these months we have managed to ensure stability and continuous functioning of budgetary and financial arteries of Ukraine," Natalia Jaresko noted.

The Minister has underlined that one of the important achievements of the Ministry for these six months is balancing of public finances and brining them to non-accommodated budget deficit.

"There is still a lot of work. We understand the external and internal risks for our economy, but we have a clear vision of how to ensure further recovery of public finances and lay the foundations for economic recovery," Natalia Jaresko emphasized.

However, the further key priorities of the Finance Ministry’s activity are:

• completion of restructuring of external commercial liabilities in order to reduce pressure on the balance of payments and stabilize the debt burden;

• presentation of draft tax reform aimed at broadening the tax base, de-shadowing of the economy, creation of a more equitable tax burden in the country, as well as provision of a more favorable investment climate in Ukraine;

• preparation of a draft state budget for 2016, which should enhance social protection of the citizens and provide funding of defense at the level of the current year at 5% of GDP;

• upgrading public financial management via the introduction of electronic services (e-procurement using the ProZorro system).