At the end of last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the introduction of an "economic passport". Such a document will allow Ukrainians to pay for education, housing or medical treatment from a special personal account. Funds on it will be accumulated through annual contributions from the state.
What is an Economic Passport?
The Economic Passport is a system of monetary savings, which all children born in Ukraine will be able to use after coming of age.
The main subject of the economic passport is the Future Generations Fund. Every year the government will deposit money in the amount of two minimum wages into the accounts of its participants.
The mechanism of the economic passport is outlined in a bill that President Zelenskyy submitted to parliament on 6 December 2021.
Who and when will receive an economic passport
According to the draft law, the participants of the Future Generations Fund will be Ukrainians born after January 1, 2019. State contributions to their personal accounts will be made until the age of 18.
Thus, Ukrainians will begin to receive their first payments from the Fund from 2037.
Conditions for receipt
- It will be possible to use the savings if the following criteria are met:
- Ukrainian citizenship and reaching the age of majority;
- Continuous residence in Ukraine for the last 5 years.
- For this purpose the participant of the Fund or his representative should submit to the Fund administrator an application and all confirming documents.
In the presence of serious illnesses it is possible to receive payments even till the age of 18.
What the money can be spent on
- Studying in educational establishments of Ukraine (professional, vocational and higher education institutions);
- Purchase of own housing in Ukraine;
- treatment of serious illnesses (cancer, myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary bypass surgery, kidney failure, transplantation of vital organs and other critical illnesses or health conditions determined by a medical advisory committee)
- transfer of funds to a personal account in the system of non-state pension provision.
Economic passport for pensioners
In the future, the economic passport program in Ukraine may be extended to pensioners.
The head of the "Servant of the People" faction David Arahamia said that people older than 70-80 years old need to have a basic income, as this category of citizens has no possibility of additional earnings.
Source of funds
The economic passport bill stipulates that the Future Generations Fund will accumulate government contributions for the benefit of its participants, with subsequent investment of assets and disbursements.
The assets of the participants of the Fund will include contributions from the budget from the payment of rent for the use of subsoil resources for the extraction of minerals.
Also the source of formation of the Fund will be the investment income from the placement and investment of its participants.
The amount of the annual state contribution - 2 minimum wages, the amount of which is set at the beginning of the year when the contribution is made. Payments to a personal account are made in hryvnia.
With regard to the total amount of savings, the head of the Servant of the People faction David Arahamia said that in a favorable situation Ukrainians will be able to get up to 20 thousand dollars for economic passports.
President's initiative
On December 1, Volodymyr Zelensky during the message to the Verkhovna Rada announced the introduction of the bill on the economic passport of a Ukrainian. In this draft law, the president proposed to allocate funds from the use of Ukrainian subsoil for the education of children.
"After reaching the age of majority our children will be able to use this money for education in Ukraine or to buy their own homes in Ukraine. Thanks to these laws, our oligarchs will become real investors in our children's future," Zelenskyy noted.
Earlier, it was reported that on December 6, 2021, the bill "About the economic passport" under No. 6394 was submitted to Parliament. Also, bills proposing to regulate the issues of state contributions to the economic passport system and exemption of these funds from taxation have been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.
