KIEV, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's ongoing decentralization reform, which allows regional authorities to keep many key taxes collected on their territories in local budgets, has significantly boosted the regional development of the state, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on Monday.
"Local authorities are getting the instruments to be effective, to create normal conditions for education, health care, road construction, infrastructure modernization," Groysman said during the International Mayors Congress in Kiev.
Due to the implementation of the decentralization reform, the budgets of local communities have attracted 1.7 billion U.S. dollars more funds in January through November 2016 compared with the same period a year ago, Groysman said.
"This is a real investment that can be directed to all spheres of life as well as to modernization of our cities," he emphasized.
Ukraine's decentralization reform, which was launched in 2015, is aimed at strengthening the autonomy of the regions by transferring them more administrative and financial powers.
