Pynzenyk forecasts hard times ahead

“For the first 6 months, Premier Azarov was expecting a marvel to happen. The first 100 days were the road to nowhere. In summer, the cabinet took certain steps in the right direction,” Pynzenyk said.

The government is unable to collect the revenue it planned. It couldn’t have been otherwise as the budget indicators were unreal. The cabinet failed to remedy the problem of living beyond the country’s means into which the country was dragged in 2009, Pynzenyk went on.

Budget deficit will be the same this year as in 2009. Ukraine will take 3-4 years to reach the 2008 level. Economic growth rate will be 4%, not 6% as the cabinet declared. In Q4 the economy will fall, Pynzenyk forecast.

He said he failed to see any efforts by the new regime to cut its expenses, notably, to reduce extremely high pensions for retired officials and impose higher taxes on private assets.