Kolomoisky: President of Ukraine should default on debt

Ukrainian businessman Igor Kolomoisky has called on the country’s new President Vladimir Zelensky to reject the International Monetary Fund’s austerity program or default on Ukraine’s external debt.

"In my opinion, we should treat our creditors the way Greece does," Kolomoisky said in an interview with the Financial Times. "That’s an example for Ukraine." In its battle with creditors in 2015, Greece became the first developed country that refused to repay an IMF loan, albeit temporarily, he recalled.

According to Kolomoisky, Zelensky’s landslide victory in the presidential election confirmed that the people of Ukraine want a break from the IMF-mandated austerity reforms and a clampdown on corruption. The voters cited these as their top reasons to vote for the comedian, the businessman explained.

"If Zelensky listens to [the West] and doesn’t make his own appointments he’ll end up like Poroshenko. He’ll have the same poll numbers 5, 10, or 15 instead of 73%," the businessman added,

According to him, the United States and the European Union should write off Ukraine’s external debt.