KIEV, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The decentralization reform in Ukraine has boosted the prosperity of the country's regions, with revenues of local budgets rising 24.1 percent in the first quarter, the Ukrainian government said Friday.
In January-March this year, local budgets in Ukraine have received revenues of about 2 billion U.S. dollars compared with 1.6 billion dollars in the same period a year before, the government stated on its website.
The funds will be used to develop education and healthcare in the regions and provide more efficient administration services to local people, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Gennady Zubko.
The decentralization reform, one of the key reforms of Ukraine's public sector, keeps more taxes in the regions and grants more powers to local communities in terms of taxes disposition.
Since the launch of the reform in 2015, the revenues of the local budgets have more than doubled to 7.4 billion dollars in 2017. This year, the revenues of the regions are projected at 8.8 billion dollars.
