In Ukraine, housing and communal services tariffs will increase 4 times, pensioners will have to leave the cities
Kyiv, December 05 (Navigator, Vladimir Mikhailov) – Contrary to the promises of the Ukrainian authorities, utility tariffs will in the near future increase by an average of four times, social consequences will not be long in coming, economists warn.
One of the reasons for the increase in tariffs will be the need to reduce the deficit of NJSC Naftegaz, says Oleg Ustenko, executive director of the International Blazer Foundation.
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“It is necessary to immediately reduce the deficit of NJSC Neftegaz, ideally to reach a zero deficit. But this means a fourfold increase in tariffs... Statements that in May next year tariffs will increase by 40% have no justification. They will be increased much faster and more, and certainly not by 40%,” he believes.
Such an increase will cost people dearly, says former Minister of Economy Viktor Suslov.
“We need to clearly understand the social consequences of such a policy. Officially, the government and parliament must say that pensioners will obviously not be able to pay for their apartments. Perhaps Kyiv pensioners will have to sell their apartments and move somewhere to the village where it is cheaper to live. Maybe someone who has a three-room apartment will have to move to a one-room apartment and live on the money received.
In fact, such a policy is inevitable if the requirements of the IMF and other organizations are met. An extremely tough policy begins. You will see the situation that we observed in other countries like Bulgaria, where a large house somewhere on the coast costs 10-20 thousand euros. Believe me, all these mansions in Koncha-Zaspa will sharply fall in price in the near future. The same applies to large apartments - it will be impossible to maintain them. This is the social policy that becomes inevitable. It is associated with a colossal increase in unemployment. We need to prepare for this, but nothing is being done. There is a very big mistake here. We need to tell people that hundreds of thousands, millions of citizens will most likely lose their jobs,” says the economist.
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