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Ukraine eyeing legalization of prostitution, marijuana to boost revenue for Pension Fund

The idea of legalization of gambling has found no support at the Ukrainian parliament so far

KIEV, April 8. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Insurance Federation has come out with an initiative to legalize prostitution and other outlawed activities in a bid to increase Pension Fund revenues.

"They say there are no compensators to launch both the pay-as-you-go and defined contributions elements of the pension system. They say the state budget lacks funds for that," Galina Tretyakova, Director General of the Ukrainian Insurance Federation, said on Friday. "Compensators could be found in de-shadowing of the economy, for instance, in legalizing outlawed types of activities which yield no incomes to the budget. It may sound provocative but I mean prostitution, arms trading, gambling, marihuana growing and sale."

Such initiative have already been voiced in Ukraine, which is desperately looking for new sources of incomes for the state budget. Thus, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) has made several attempts to pass a law legalizing prostitution and brothels. The latest such bill was registered in September 2015. The bill determined the term "prostitute" as a "self-employed individual offering sex services" and obliged the state to "promote the development of commercial sex institutions, take measures to improve the image of prostitutes’ job, and to encourage activities of trade unions and public organizations in the sphere of prostitution." The bill however was never put for voting.

The idea of legalization of gambling has found no support at the Ukrainian parliament so far. The latest attempt to legalize gambling was made in November 2015. Back then, former Minister of Economy and Trade Aivars Abromavicius came out with an initiative to legalize casinos at four-and five-star hotels.