KIEV -- Ukrainians whose savings at state banks shrank due to skyrocketing inflation will be given 2,200 percent of the money's value in the form of privatization certificates, a news agency said.


According to a decree signed by President Leonid Kuchma, the government will compensate for savings held at Ukraine's National Insurance Bank and the Savings Bank before Jan. 2, 1992, Itar-Tass said.


Kuchma, who came to power last July in a tight presidential race, has made compensation for lost savings one of his key election promises.


Under the decree, quoted by Itar-Tass, the sums deposited by private individuals at state saving banks before Jan. 2, 1992, will be increased 2,200 times to compensate the population for price hikes.


But Ukrainians will not be able to receive the compensation in cash.


Instead, they will be given special certificates to be used for buying shares in privatized state companies -- except for small businesses, gas stations and unfinished buildings, Itar-Tass said. Each certificate will be worth one million karbovanets, or about $8.


Privatization of large government-owned enterprises has moved slowly in Ukraine, and the step appeared to be aimed to speed it up, in accordance with a reform package announced by Kuchma.


Details of the new measure remained sketchy. Kuchma's decree, which was not made public, ordered the Cabinet to work out compensation rules and procedures within two months.


The total amount of savings deposited by 1992 also remained unspecified, and it was not immediately clear how the step will affect Ukraine's ailing economy or whether it would fuel further inflation.