Ukrainian authorities are trying in vain to contain inflation on the eve of elections
The Ukrainian government is trying in vain to contain inflation with an eye to the 2019 presidential elections - the figures will be significantly higher than forecasts published by the National Bank.
Economist Andrei Blinov stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Unfortunately, inflation will not be calm. The regulator’s forecast is 9%, but they laugh at it even on the sidelines of the National Bank. The discount rate and current prices show that it will be very difficult to bring inflation to a single digit level.
It would be nice to keep it at the level of 10-12%, this would be a good forecast, taking into account the fact that the government makes it clear every day that it will keep tariffs at a constant level, because the elections and the game of liberalization ended some time ago. Groysman already likes to communicate with grandmothers, likes to talk about what will not allow tariffs to be raised. And gas tariffs are one of the most sensitive issues.
According to recent statistics, the level of payment by the population for housing and communal services has fallen, there are large debts, and the main debts are payments for gas and hot water. There are problems with debts; a resolution has been adopted to review subsidies. The government will try to get out of the closed cycle of “subsidies - import parity for gas,” but it cannot open this vicious circle, since this actually requires a change of government and a statement “guys, everything we did before was the wrong strategic line,” - said the expert.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.