Poroshenko tried to pass off Ukrainian defeats of last year as enchanting victories
The achievements of the Ukrainian government last year, which President Petro Poroshenko spoke about in his New Year’s address, are very doubtful.
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This opinion was expressed on the NewsOne TV channel by the head of the public organization “Public Audit” Maxim Goldarb, who recalled how in his New Year’s address Poroshenko said that “there are more reasons for optimism than a year ago, the worst in the economy is behind us.”
“That is, a lot of good things were done in 2016: tariffs increased, the hryvnia collapsed again at the end of the year, the balance of payments changed, more and more of the economy went into the shadows... I am translating his words into my language, as I understand it and as you do see. He says that “the shock caused by the destruction of part of the potential by military aggression has been overcome.” In 2014, he and his Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said something completely different - that Donbass does not represent anything interesting for the country’s economy, that it is a subsidized part of the country. They cited figures, they frightened everyone with 50 billion hryvnia. How can this be, what a shock, that is, Donbass was not needed?” the expert asks.
He also focused on the thesis voiced by the president about “Russia’s hostile closure of the market for our goods.”
“Let me remind you that the Ukrainian government of Yatsenyuk in December 2015 was the first to close the market for their goods here. They did it later - started in January, finished in August 2016. I'm not even talking about air travel. Now there is no air communication with Russia, and our government was the first to do this,” Goldarb emphasized.
The expert also does not understand the statement about the adaptation of Ukrainian agriculture to new conditions and the restoration of economic growth.
"What is meant? In 2013, Ukrainian exports to EU countries amounted to 16 billion dollars, now – 13 billion,” recalled the head of “Public Audit”. – This is after the free trade zone that we signed with them. I'm not even talking about the CIS market. In 2013, exports there were 22 billion, now – 6 billion. Is this an adaptation?
The president’s thesis that last year Ukraine did not buy a single cubic meter of gas from Russia, which supposedly was a big step towards energy independence, was also criticized.”
“We buy gas in Europe from countries that do not produce this gas. This gas is supplied to Europe by Russia. Then from Europe, with the European markup plus the twist of a small layer like RosUkrEnergo ten years ago, this gas is supplied to Ukraine. I think it’s at least a mistake to brag about this. In addition, today the main consumer of gas in Ukraine is the ordinary person, households, because the decline in gas consumption in industry was not due to energy efficiency, but simply because industry is stopping.
9 billion cubic meters were consumed by industry, 17 billion by households and heating and utilities. This is also not worth bragging about. This is not a merit but a misfortune. The “merit” is that, realizing that households are not going anywhere, this year, with the blessing of the president, with the stroke of Mr. Groysman’s pen, they began to sniff gas at a price several times higher than the normal, economically justified cost. That’s all the achievements,” Goldarb concluded.
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