Ukraine will not fulfill a requirement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to raise gas prices for households, according to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
"We should increase personal incomes first, and then raise prices. Therefore, the IMF’s demand to raise the price of gas for households by 50% is unacceptable to us, we will not agree and will never agree to this," he said during a meeting meet prominent Ukrainian women to mark the upcoming International Women’s Day in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Yanukovych said that this was the reason why Ukraine had not received more loans from the IMF.
At the same time, the president said this was for the best, as Ukraine has managed to reduce its foreign debt.
According to Yanukovych, during the past and this year the payments on foreign loans reached their peak and were between Hr 70 billion and Hr 75 billion a year.
