The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is concerned over the adoption by the Ukrainian parliament of a bill on a rise in the living wage and the minimum wage.
IMF Mission Chief to Ukraine Ceyla Pazarbasioglu said this while meeting with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn in Kyiv on Wednesday, the Ukrainian parliament’s press service reported.
During the meeting, Lytvyn and Pazarbasioglu touched upon the current economic and political situation in Ukraine. The IMF mission chief said that the fund was concerned over the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of the bill raising social standards, as it will seriously complicate the execution of Ukraine’s national budget and the fiscal deficit will far exceed 8%, which is not in line with the previous agreements with the IMF.
The parliament speaker in turn said Ukraine needs to find a way “to help the poorest survive.”
In his words, Ukraine has to pursue a well considered economic policy and have a realistic view of the fulfillment of the 2009 budget, otherwise it will be impossible to draw up a realistic budget for next year.
“The government is making incredible efforts to keep the situation under control, but everybody is involved in the election campaign and reluctant to speak about unpopular things,” he said.
