Ukraine’s recession’s main lesson: Beware of crowd-pleasing politicians, says Viktor Pynzenyk

He believes the real condition of the economy proved worse than his earlier prediction, saying the downfall could have been below the staggering 15%.
 “My forecast of an 8% fall could have stayed. We had to act quickly to forestall a greater fall. Ukraine could have avoided the 11% budget deficit and state debt growth of UAH112 bln in 2009,” Pynzenyk went on.
According to Pynzenyk, the former cabinet created an illusion of safety. The country was dragged into abominable debts. In other words, the cabinet put the lid on the problems.
 “Unfortunately, the IMF helped to keep the lid on. Did it help to resolve the problems? The debt has only become bigger. While only UAH3.8 bln were needed in 2008 to pay the interest on the state debt, now the figure is UAH22 bln. The additional UAH18 bln can pay for two army budgets. Now the citizenry will have to burden debts repayment. Per head of the population, the debt stands at UAH6.5 thousand (without interest),” the former ex-finance minister said.   
The main lesson to be learnt by Ukrainians is “Beware of nice wrappings. There is no candy inside the wrappings – only hooks. Beware of crowd-pleasing declarations by politicians for which Ukrainians have to pay without even realizing it. Unfortunately, most of Ukraine politicians are sick with populism.”
Ukraine’s major problem is the unbalanced budget. “Last year’s budget deficit stood at UAH100 bln. It tops the summary budget deficits in all the 20 years of Ukraine’s independence.”