**Ukraine Reforms Tracker: Week of March 10-16, 2025**
The Ukrainian parliament has been busy with several key economic reforms and developments in the past week. Here’s a summary:
**Benchmarks and Soft Commitments with the IMF**
On March 14, the competition commission held the first stage of the selection process for the new director of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES). 17 candidates were eliminated, including the current acting BES chief. Only 16 candidates will advance to the next stage – a legal knowledge exam.
**Obligations to the EU**
The Ukrainian parliament passed draft law #8222, introducing a standardized pay structure for civil servants based on a position classification system. This reform aims to align public sector salaries with OECD standards and was supported by 259 MPs. However, amendments to raise salaries for several key ministries were partially rejected.
**Other Key Economic Issues**
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed bill #11392, approving the $1 billion purchase of two outdated Russian nuclear reactors from Bulgaria. The reactors are set to be used for the construction of reactor units No. 3 and No. 4 at Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant.
The Ukrainian TV channel We – Ukraine received around $4.4 million in state contracts at premium rates, with a per-hour rate exceeding that of other networks. The channel has previously received large state contracts for producing United News content.
**Key Quotes**
“The position classification system needs to be expanded to cover all civil service roles, while fairness, transparency, and competitiveness in civil servants’ salaries must continue to improve in an increasingly competitive labor market.” – Ugis Sics, head of EU4PAR project.
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