KIEV, July 25 - The overall sum of wage arrears in Ukraine as of July 1 shrank by 6% from June 1, to UAH 1.187 billion, the National Statistics Service said on Monday.

Delayed wages as of July 1 were 2.6% less on January 1, 2011 and 33.8% down on July 1, 2010.

An increase in the wage backlog in June 2011 was registered in Kherson region (13.9%), Vinnytsia region (6.2%), Chernivtsi region (2.8%), Ternopil region (1.9%), Lviv region (1.3%), and the city of Sevastopol (3.6%). Wage arrears considerably shrank last month in Kharkiv region (20.7%), Odesa region (8.5%), Kiev region (8.1%), Zakarpattia region (7.4%), Poltava region (7.4%), Donetsk region (5%), and the city of Kiev (8.1%).