Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk yesterday called for an international donor conference to avoid a possible “default.”
Ukraine needs to expand the bailout program that is keeping its economy afloat after bonds fell to a record low and government forces continued to come under attack from pro-Russian separatists in the east, Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius said yesterday.
It is too early to say how much more aid Ukraine requires, he said.
Photo: Reuters
“To receive financial aid in order to survive in this difficult time, not to allow default, we need an international donor conference, the approval of Ukraine’s program and to get support from our Western partners,” the prime minister told lawmakers in Kiev.
The country may need to almost double its US$17 billion emergency loan “within weeks” to avoid bankruptcy, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing unidentified officials.
Yatsenyuk referred to the Financial Times story, telling lawmakers it was the newspaper, not he, saying the country may need the extra US$15 billion in aid.
“It is very difficult for us to get out of this crisis alone, without the support of international partners it is practically impossible,” he said.
Concerns are growing that the government in Kiev will be unable to repay its debts as the fighting in two breakaway regions takes its toll on Ukraine’s economy. The conflict has wiped out 20 percent of the country’s economic potential, Yatsenyuk said.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was said to have asked Russian Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov to let Ukraine delay the repayment of US$3 billion in bonds issued last year, according to the Financial Times, which reported that the IMF found a US$15 billion shortfall in Ukraine’s budget.
Russia has the right to call an early repayment of the notes, due in December next year, if Ukraine’s public debt tops 60 percent of economic output.
Meanwhile, Australia yesterday pledged its support for Ukraine during a visit by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott calling for an end to the bloody conflict in Eastern Europe.
Abbott, a sharp critic of Russia since Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in July over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, said Russia must honor a little-respected ceasefire agreement signed in September.
Asked by a journalist if Australia was taking sides in a European war, Abbott replied: “The side we take is the side of freedom, democracy and self-determination... And plainly, freedom, democracy and self-determination are currently at risk in parts of Eastern Europe.”
Poroshenko, in Australia for a three-day visit, urged Russia to withdraw from the region, where both sides have been engaged in a one-day truce that Poroshenko proposed in a bid to revive the September ceasefire deal.
“Please stop the fire. Please release the hostages. Please withdraw your troops from my territory. Please close the border,” Poroshenko said during a press conference in Melbourne. “And I promise if you close the border, within one, two, three weeks, we have peace and stability in Ukraine. Very simple.”
Additional reporting by AP
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