“Ukraine loses $1 billion in Donbass every month”

By Vestnik Kavkaza

This Sunday parliamentary elections will be held in Ukraine. The future destiny of the country in all spheres – from settlement of the situation in the southeast to numerous accumulated economic problems – will depend on the parties which will get into the Verkhovna Rada.

Andrei Blinov, an economic and financial expert, thinks that it's not only the elections that will be one of the most important events of October, but also the visit by a Ukrainian delegation to an annual session of directors of the IMF and the World Bank: “In 2014 these organizations, first of all the IMF, are the so-called loan last resort for Ukraine, as the whole world is oriented towards them. If you remember the ambitious program of the Ukrainian government in spring 2014, it was estimated that Ukraine could attract $35 billion over two years, 2014-2015, and this could cover the double deficit which had been accumulated in the Ukrainian economy. Since that the situation has become worse. Ukraine loses about $1 billion of its export potential every month due to the events in Donbass. So, if we count since July-August, the sum is no less than $5 billion. The Minister of Finances Alexander Shlapak and the head of the National Bank Valeria Gontareva admitted that they arrived in Washington to ask for an extension of the “Stand-By” program.”

Andrei Blinov believes that the Western partners of Ukraine won’t take any steps on the economic situation in the country before the formation of a new government: “At the moment the international community somehow took a pause toward Ukraine; it confirmed once again that it would discharge its liabilities, but it would wait for formation of a new government and possible changes in the financial sector. They should understand who will be partners of the IMF planned mission which should come in November to conduct negotiations and study the current macroeconomic situation in Ukraine. There are many aspects which are connected with the future parliamentary majority: whether there will be quotas or the government will be quite professional. Considering the current popularity of some radical mottos, the international community and our experts don’t exclude that we could have radicalism in internal finances. For example, it is discussed that Ukraine should stop paying foreign debts and declare that the whole world owes something to Ukraine.”