OREANDA-NEWS. August 12, 2010. President Viktor Yanukovych has met with Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Serhiy Tihipko. At the meeting sides have discussed implementation of economic reforms.

Viktor Yanukovych said that timely preparation and adoption of the appropriate legislation is very important for conducting reforms. "I would like to constantly see your active position – that the Government prepared legislation needed to reform our country quickly, consistently, and step by step," he said, adding also that the Cabinet must use the Parliamentary recess to prepare the package of necessary laws and draft budget for 2011.

According to Viktor Yanukovych, the reforms in Ukraine will also be facilitated by the IMF loan. "The loan we have received from the IMF is, in fact, a credit of trust," he said and emphasized that the funds must be used rationally.

From his part, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs informed the President on execution of 2010 state budget. According to him, during elaboration of this year’s budget the Government tried to solve three basic problems: consolidate public finances, strengthen the banking system, and start structural reforms.

"We have executed the state budget almost 100%," he said. He noted that the second half of the year will be more difficult but more profitable for the budget. "We can say that we have won the first phase of consolidating the budget, although it is worth noting that now the second phase begins when we need to refund the restructured VAT for 2009 and approach automatic VAT refunding for transparent companies by September," said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mentioning the IMF loan, Serhiy Tihipko said that it is important for supporting the practical implementation of the reforms’ program: "In fact, we will have two years of support to economic reform. We now have an improvement of our state’s ratings”.

Speaking about the work of banking sector, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed the need to adopt several laws.

During the meeting the President drew Serhiy Tihipko’s attention to the formation of prices for bread and bakery products. He reminded of the situation in Cherkassy region, where one of the bakeries has arbitrarily raised the price for its products. "I would ask you and your colleagues to conduct the appropriate work. No one can raise prices arbitrarily and we will not allow that," he said.

Serhiy Tihipko assured Viktor Yanukovych that the Government has all the capability to monitor the situation. "The Agrarian Fund financed is well financed, therefore it is able to compensate for the growth of grain prices (if it happens). I also think that today the prices must not be raised because there is no reason for this," said the Deputy Prime Minister.