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Ukraine’s lawmakers approved the 2015 state budget as the country seeks to unlock the next tranche of a $17 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund.

The budget was backed today by 233 lawmakers in the 450-seat Kiev-based legislature at 4:30 a.m. after debating tax-code changes and other issues since 10 a.m. yesterday. Supporters of the bill sang the national anthem and Cabinet members hugged one another after the legislation was approved.

“This budget, like other budgets adopted in this hall, is far from perfect,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said before the vote. “That’s why the budget must be reviewed no later than Feb. 15. We will amend it based on the result of talks with international financial organizations.”

The $17 billion bailout is already proving insufficient as Ukraine is grappling with its deepest recession since 2009 and its currency has plunged 48 percent against the dollar this year. The country’s credit rating was cut this month by Standard & Poor’s, which said a default could become inevitable as central bank reserves are melting and a bailout is being held up as fighting continues in the country’s east.

Ukraine needs $15 billion on top of the existing bailout, according to the European Union, to stay afloat as the bloodiest conflict since World War II ravages industry in the country’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The government estimates gross domestic product will contract 7 percent this year, while foreign reserves are below $10 billion -- the lowest in more than a decade.
IMF Mission

IMF is moving “expeditiously” to continue discussion with the government on a reform program to stabilize the economy and restore sustainable growth, the fund’s representative office in Kiev said today by email. The IMF mission will work in Kiev beginning Jan. 8 until before the end of the month.

An IMF mission will return early next year to discuss financial aid should parliament approve the budget, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said Dec. 26. The budget is aimed at stabilizing state finances, which will help stabilize the hryvnia rate, she said.

The budget envisages an increase of defense spending to 5.2 percent of GDP, Jaresko said. It cuts social spending to keep the budget deficit in check, while doubling duties to 10 percent on imports that are not “essential.”

The government sees the budget deficit, excluding funds needed for state-run energy company NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy, at 3.7 percent of GDP. Yatsenyuk said the government spent 110 billion hryvnia ($7 billion) this year on Naftogaz and plans to cut subsidies to 32 billion hryvnia in 2015.

Yatsenyuk said the subsidy will be lifted if the price of natural gas for households is increased to “market levels.”

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KIEV ANNOUNCES AUSTERITY
Because of the cutoff of natural gas deliveries and the subsequent price hike, the transitional Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatseniuk, has announced that natural gas subsidies would be cut back significantly. The IMF has insisted, as it has done with most of its governmental loans, that subsidies be cut in order to shore up governmental finances. Yatseniuk, himself a banker and favored by the United States to head the transitional government, has full authority to obtain loans and sign international agreements, according to the EU and the USA.

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MAIDAN SQUARE ERUPTS AGAIN

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The European Union, according to the President of Austria, had overestimated the attractiveness of the offer on Association with Ukraine. According to Fischer, it was necessary to allow Kyiv to build partnership relations with both Europe and Russia. "Only at the last moment it became clear that Ukraine will become a call between the EU proposal and the multi-billion dollar offer from (Russian President) Vladimir Putin," said Fischer

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Originally posted by THGRRI:
I think the Russian migrants to Eastern Ukraine are fighting to annex or steal that half of the country at the behest of Putin. Pretty much what everyone else believes. At least those who are not considered Bolsheviks.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
So, very generally Signy, I've come to a change of ideas. I used to think that national cohesion was a worthy goal. But as I started to think about it more, I started to wonder - why? If people aren't in the same country of their own free will, then they're in it by applied force. And just on general terms, it's hard to argue you're for freedom and democracy if you're not willing to abide by either.

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Signy, I don't think there was a single commentator who predicted that Ukraine would NOT face austerity, or that the Ukrainian population would like it.

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…SIG
THUGR, do you know much about the IMF and how it operates? Because I've been watching it for quite a while now, and I have to say that when the IMF gets a hold of some nation's finances, it NEVER turns out well for the citizens.

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THUGR, do you know much about the IMF and how it operates? Because I've been watching it for quite a while now, and I have to say that when the IMF gets a hold of some nation's finances, it NEVER turns out well for the citizens. -SIGNY

All this shows me is that you chose to blow right by two countries tired of corruption and unfruitful ties to Russia who are trying to change,and instead just attack the IMF. Nothing new here. How about Russia pulls it tanks and unruly migrants out of the Ukraine and Georgia and leaves them be.

You ignore the most back facts regarding all of this. Georgia and Ukraine are sovereign nations and can do what they chose. Even if what they chose is a mistake. All your subjective writing will not erase this simple fact. -THUGR

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….Sig
Sometimes I read your posts and I wonder.... what are you taking about???
Russian tanks in Ukraine .... Yanno, KPO and G have been scouring the internet looking for Russian tanks in Ukraine, and they found two. Or maybe three.

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…Sig
"Unruly immigrants"??? You mean, people who have been born and raised in an area for several generations are now personae non gratae?

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….Sig
So, Kiev can do anything it wants to people within its borders? Shell them? Starve them? Of course, if it were Russia doing these things, you would be outraged. Outraged, I tell you!

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So they found some then, and if there are tanks than all the support structures must be in place as well

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You know, the same troops that shot down the civilian airliner.

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Great to see you realize these provinces in Ukraine are not a part of Russia. So why do you continue to excuse Russia’s meddling as though it is lawful?

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why do these same migrants, generations removed from Russia as you claim, believe they and Russia have the right to usurp the territories in the parts of the Ukraine they occupy?

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Funny how you think it is not all right for the Ukrainian government to fight insurgents within its borders, yet it is totally acceptable for Russia to cross into Ukraine and start killing people as they dismantle the country.

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…Sig
WHAT "support structures"? Tanks need fuel and ammo. They have a crew of three: commander, gunner, and driver. Once those are in place, they're pretty independent, and isn't that kind of the point of tanks- not needing a lot of support structure? Sheesh, pretty soon you'll be talking about those (invisible) WMDs!

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….Me then Sig
You know, the same troops that shot down the civilian airliner.

Sig...uh huh. And that's my polite response, because at this end, I'm laughing my ass off.

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….Me
Great to see you realize these provinces in Ukraine are not a part of Russia. So why do you continue to excuse Russia’s meddling as though it is lawful?

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….Sig
I didn't say it was lawful, I said it was NEGLIGIBLE. It would be nice if you would learn to read with comprehension. That must be why you joined the military: limited opportunity in the civilian sector.

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….Sig
Well, if you REALLY want to go back into history, Crimea was part of Russia until 1954, when it was given to Ukraine. So how far back to you want to go?

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….Sig
You have this fixed idea that somehow the Russian military - under Russian command- are in Ukraine killing thousands of people.
My way of figuring out who is doing what is simply to think about who has killed the most people. In this case, that would be Kiev. So it seems to me that the Kiev government itself has no concern for the well-being of its citizens.

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….Sig
In any case, unless some nation comes and rescues Ukraine's ass, the government will be facing yet another ouster in a few years, maybe even a violent one. And I'm looking around, and I don't see many nations willing to step forward with several truckloads of cash. Germany??? No, they paid for East Germany and they're still struggling to get their $$$ back from Greece. France? Austria? The USA? Ukraine is the economic hot potato that nobody wants to be stuck with. But not to worry: It's no accident that Yatsenyuk the banker and hand-picked USA favorite is still in power in an unelected position as PM. He'll watch out for the IMF's interests!

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….Sig
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

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What-ever

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After seven years of bailouts, Greeks sink yet deeper in poverty
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eurozone-greece-poverty-idUSKBN15Z1N
M

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German Minister Calls For 'Plan B': "Greece Should Pledge Gold, Real Estate For New Loans" http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-20/german-minister-calls-plan-b-
greece-should-pledge-gold-real-estate-new-loans

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Originally posted by DREAMTROVE:
Oh what a self defeatist idea for the west

All that will happen if they bury Ukraine in debt is the Kremlin will offer to bail them out. And we lose again. This is a stupid conflict we shouldn't be fighting. It is very much as if China had decided that it wanted to get a foothold in N. America by taking over an independent Quebec. It's a doomed plan. We wouldn't invade, but there would be no way for that situation to end well for the Chinese.


Edit:

Sig,

Na, it's about Ukraine, you start out with a post about Ukraine.

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Originally posted by DREAMTROVE:
Oh what a self defeatist idea for the west

All that will happen if they bury Ukraine in debt is the Kremlin will offer to bail them out. And we lose again. This is a stupid conflict we shouldn't be fighting. It is very much as if China had decided that it wanted to get a foothold in N. America by taking over an independent Quebec. It's a doomed plan. We wouldn't invade, but there would be no way for that situation to end well for the Chinese.


Edit:

Sig,

Na, it's about Ukraine, you start out with a post about Ukraine.

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