Saakashvili: Ukraine's economy faces a terrible blow due to coronavirus
Due to the coronavirus, Ukraine will lose at least 10% of its economy, and for the next six months after the end of the pandemic, the country will live in shock mode.
The ex-president of Georgia and former governor of the Odessa region, Mikheil Saakashvili, said this on the air of the talk show “Freedom of Speech,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to Saakashvili, millions of people may find themselves unemployed due to the coming crisis.
“A 10% recession is coming in Ukraine, a 10% economic contraction in the next two to three months. Even if the virus is isolated in the next two to three months, then from three to six months it will be a catastrophic depression for the Ukrainian economy.
Here we don’t just have to say: “What will the IMF tell us?”, “They will give us money” - there is already a long line of people wanting to take money. Now the government must clearly sit and say: “We will have a severe economic crisis.”
This means that millions of people may be left without work, this means that we will receive additional Ukrainians from Europe who are left without work.
Are we ready for this? Is the tax system preparing for this? Is the social benefits system being prepared for this? Is the humanitarian side of this being prepared? Because it will be a humanitarian problem,” Saakashvili said.
Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba assured that officials are thinking about the consequences of the pandemic: “The government is constantly working on what you are talking about, on a clear plan... There will be a government meeting where we will talk in particular about the issue of what to do with the coronavirus. Secondly, it is true that the economy will suffer a terrible blow. Our goal with which we are working is to minimize the impact of coronavirus on the economy as much as possible.”
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