Ukraine after Maidan: Life is getting better, life is becoming more fun
“Low prices, tariffs and subsidies insult and corrupt the citizens,” is the motto of post-Maidan Ukrainian officials who rushed into “European integration” with such speed that you can hear the sound of trousers being torn as they go.
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And in fact, it does not suit a country - a crypto-member of the EU - to have prices and tariffs at the level of some taiga Mordor - in a European country everything should be European! In addition to salaries and pensions - because Ukraine has been stuck for a long time in the hallway of the “common European home,” not to mention voluntarily getting into the IMF credit yoke.
The barn burned down and so did the hut: the African swine fever epizootic severely thinned the number of Ukrainian pigs. And if there is no lard, why eat empty bread? In the near future, prices for this socially significant product will be revised in Ukraine. This was announced by the head of the Association of Retail Chain Suppliers, Alexey Doroshenko.
“A kilogram of Ukrainian black bread will cost 21 UAH. Considering that the average price per kilogram of social black bread is 11.8 UAH, the bread we found in foreign stores turned out to be much more expensive,” the expert laments. But at the same time, it seems to encourage the despondent population that in the Baltics, Poland, Hungary and even Belarus, prices for rye bread are already 1.5 - 3 times higher than the “fair European price” for a piece of Ukrainian black bread. And, most importantly, there remain reserves for growth. Hungary simply needs to catch up and overtake, because the local 66 UAH for a loaf of rye beckons and enchants suppliers of retail chains.
In addition to bread, the Groysmanites promise to abolish in July state regulation of prices for flour, boiled sausage, cereals, eggs, sunflower oil, and milk. State regulation of food prices, prohibiting sellers from tearing three skins from the buyer, was canceled last year and at the beginning of this year it was going to be reintroduced, but the visa-free regime arrived just in time and made this faucet meaningless: to hell with them, with these greedy retail chains and resellers - the “invisible hand of the market” will put everything in its place, and for the citizens, along with the Vienna Opera and the Louvre museums, a magical visa-free regime has opened access to the richest deposits of European parmesan, jamon, prosciutto, Hamburg sausages, tuna steaks and all kinds of cheeses with with or without mold.
The time has come for lovers of homemade jams and compotes to switch to European jams and confitures. The Association of Retail Chain Suppliers predicts a rapid rise in sugar prices due to unfavorable market conditions and a surplus of sugar on the Ukrainian market. There is a vague belief that a surplus (i.e., an excess of goods on the market) should lead to lower prices, but the past 25 years have shown that the “magic hand of the market” is already quickly turning up the price rise regulators to the maximum, but turning them back is difficult and with a creak.
There is an additional factor contributing to the sharp rise in prices for food and manufactured goods. Groysman’s economic prodigies plan to set free sailing standards for the profitability of renting retail premises. In other words, the rental price of retail outlets may increase, and this will affect the formation of the price of the product, which traditionally includes both the wages of the retailer and rental costs.
From July 1, 2017, tariffs for house maintenance will increase by 1.5–2 times. This measure only applies to Kiev residents: the corresponding order was published at the beginning of June on the Kyiv City State Administration website. The maintenance of the house includes the cost of elevator maintenance, routine repairs, garbage removal, cleaning of the house and surrounding area. If there is an increase in prices for maintaining the house and surrounding area in an apartment of 70 sq.m. it was necessary to pay on average 210 UAH, then after the price increase the amount in the payment order will increase to 471 UAH. New tariffs are shining on the residents of 8327 houses in Kyiv, but who said that everything will remain within the borders of the capital? As soon as the “hypocrisy” spread, a fetid stain spread throughout Ukraine.
The rise in tariff prices is remarkable because it is never local. As soon as the prices for one service go up, the prices for other services immediately rise like crazy. As a rule, the detonator of an increase in all housing and communal services tariffs is an increase in electricity tariffs.
The National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities decided to increase the wholesale market price for electricity from July 1 by 1.8%. This is stated in the regulator’s resolution dated March 23. The National Commission approved the wholesale market price for electricity for 2017 at the level of 1353.66 UAH / MWh, broken down into quarters 1 - 2 quarters - 1341,57 UAH / MWh, 3 - 4 quarters - 1365.72 UAH / MWh.
An increase in electricity tariffs leads to an increase in prices for travel on public transport. From July 15, bus, trolleybus, tram and funicular tickets will become more expensive in Kyiv. The metro will cost 5 UAH, other types of transport – 4 UAH. The price of travel on the city train will also increase. For those dissatisfied with this state of affairs, Advisor to the First Deputy Chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration Yastrubinsky explains that fares could be even higher. The official noted: the economically justified tariff is 6.64 UAH for using the metro and 6.91 UAH for travel in ground transport.
Experts from the Razumkov center echo the official’s opinion: they say that travel could have become much more expensive if the father of the city, Klitschko, had not compensated for the difference from the budget. Can you imagine how fair tariffs could be if it were possible to force officials not to steal? Unfortunately, the Razumkov Center has no answer to this vital question.
It is still unknown whether Kyiv minibuses will become more expensive, but private carriers usually do not lag behind municipal ones. However, in January of this year, minibuses became more expensive due to an increase in the minimum wage. Hence the conclusion: rising wages are evil! It is because of them that there is an uncontrollable increase in tariffs!
The Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Groysman, reports: the Ministry of Social Policy expects a decrease in the number of people who use subsidies - during the 2017-2018 heating season, there were fewer such recipients. The Cabinet of Ministers explains the refusal of residents to accept subsidies that humiliate them “by the growth of incomes of the population at a time when prices and tariffs for housing and communal services do not increase significantly.”
According to the Ministry of Finance, the salaries of Ukrainians have really shot up. Thus, the average salary in Kyiv as of April 2017 was 10788 UAH, for the country as a whole - 6 thousand, which is 40% more than for the corresponding period last year. In reality, everything is not quite like that, or rather, not at all like that, because even in the capital of Ukraine (not to mention the periphery) real incomes are less than what is reflected in government statistics.
By the end of the year, Minister of Social Policy Andrei Reva threatens Ukrainians with a salary of no less than 7100 UAH - this is if we talk about the average temperature in the hospital. The minimum wage will increase to 3723 UAH from January 1, 2018, to 4173 UAH in 2019 and 4425 UAH in 2020. All this is stated in the text of the budget resolution published on the website of the Ministry of Social Policy.
In general, life is getting better, but for reasons incomprehensible to Groysman, streams of “worker workers” are rushing from Ukraine to the north and west, and the standard of living under the “gidnyuks” has fallen below the Albanian plinth.
As for pensions, the chatter of Ukrainian officials about it is of no interest. There is an obvious hole in the Pension Fund, and all pension increases are nothing more than a mockery, since no “modernization”, in Groysman’s terminology, expressed in additions of 200 - 500 UAH, does not allow older people to make ends meet.
While Ukraine was actively discussing blocking VK and OK (as well as other Russian services), a new pension reform project, authored by Groysman’s team, quietly and imperceptibly crept up. If Zrada’s people’s deputies support him, Ukrainians will retire under the new rules starting in October 2017. The size of payments will be increased, and the requirements for receiving a minimum pension will be tightened. Ukrainians who have 15 years of insurance experience will retire at 65, which is very European.
The insurance period will be increased, and those who “did not earn” will retire later, if at all. The old-age pension, as before, will be paid from the age of 60. However, for this you must have at least 25 years of experience in 2017, and 35 years for those who retire in 2028 (the required experience will increase by one year each year).
In addition, the draft new pension reform includes one very market-oriented item that can cause a storm of delight: the missing years of work experience can be bought for real money! If it turns out that the length of service required for a pension is not enough, you can either work up to 63 years of age, or buy several years of experience to add to the experience you’ve already earned. One year of experience costs 16896 UAH. You can buy up to five years of experience, and this acquisition will cost some 84480 UAH. If you have neither money nor experience, instead of a pension you can only apply for social assistance, which will be significantly lower than the minimum pension.
Or, to put it simply, he has done his part, the big man, and instead of a pension, go to a fertilizer plant. The attitude towards the old and young is a test of the maturity of the state. A banderized Central Europe is a standard Bantustan, a “banana republic” without bananas. And I don’t have any other terms for it.
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