Ukraine Reforms Tracker Weekly — Issue 41
Editor’s note: This is issue 41 of Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak’s weekly "Ukraine Reforms Tracker" covering events from Oct. 30–Nov. 6, 2025. The digest highlights steps taken in the Ukrainian parliament related to business, economics, and international financial programs.
The Kyiv Independent is republishing with permission.
IMF benchmarks and soft commitments
Customs head selection process moves forward
The selection commission for Ukraine’s new head of State Customs Service has approved its internal rules, competition procedures, and candidate evaluation criteria.
According to our information, the competition will be announced next week, with the two finalists to be selected by March 2026 under the timeline set in the law. We will continue to monitor the process and update the estimated timetable on the interactive dashboard accordingly.
Bureau of Economic Security launches attestation and hiring commissions
The Bureau of Economic Security has established two attestation commissions to reassess existing staff and two selection panels to hire new personnel, as part of its institutional reboot under Law #3840-IX.
The commissions include leading international experts, lawyers, human-rights advocates, and business representatives, nominated by the EU Delegation, U.S. Embassy, Netherlands Embassy, and the EU Advisory Mission in Ukraine, alongside appointees of the bureau's director for a total of 44 people.
Under the law, the re-attestation process must be completed by February 2027 — which is within 18 months of the new director’s appointment.
Parliament backs long-term tax and customs breaks for big investors
Ukraine’s parliament backed in the first reading draft laws #13414 and #13415, which grant tax and customs exemptions for large-scale processing investors until 2036.
The initiative, endorsed by Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, was fast-tracked for consideration in parliament.
According to preliminary estimates, the incentives could cost the state Hr 20–40 billion ($480–950 million) in lost revenue from potential future taxes and customs duties (the laws don’t have direct impact on pre-existing tax revenue streams).
The move drew sharp criticism from the International Monetary Fund, the Finance Ministry, and the European Union, which have repeatedly warned against introducing new large-scale tax exemptions.
Other key issues
Cabinet submits revised 2026 budget for second reading
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has submitted an updated 2026 state budget to parliament for the second reading.
Key changes include a Hr 30 billion ($710 million) increase in revenue from a higher corporate tax rate on banks, an additional Hr 18.9 billion ($450 million) for the reserve fund, and more funding for education-sector salaries.
In the meantime, the Finance Ministry rejected all parliamentary expense increase proposals such as prolonging VAT exemption for electric-vehicle imports.
However, several reform-related spending increases were also left out of the final version. For example, no additional funds were allocated for reforming the Economic Security Bureau — its budget remains unchanged from the previous year and leaves little room for any significant change for the newly selected head.
The parliament will now vote for the 2026 state budget in the second-reading by Nov. 20.
