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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

The First Shoots of Economic Growth

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Last Thursday two leaders of Ukrainian economic policy almost simultaneously came up with very different views of where the economy is headed. Presidential adviser Anatoly Halchynsky told Interfax-Ukraine that for the first time since 1989 the Ukrainian economy registered real growth in the first five months of the year, 0.1%. However, Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko, quite in the spirit of Bolshevik self-criticism, acknowledged that the economic situation “remains complicated” because of the inadequate attention accorded it by the government’s economic bloc and the Premier himself.

Why did the government ignore even this small drop of good news from the Presidential Administration? Commenting on Mr. Halchynsky’s announcement for The Day, Deputy Head of the Parliamentary Accounting Chamber Vitaly Melnychuk explained that the GDP rise was engendered by the growth of domestic and foreign borrowing to cover the budget deficit. In his view its structure actually threatens the economy in that it mainly related to the energy and raw-materials consuming sectors that only pile up more debts. In other words, this “growth” only brings the economy closer to collapse.

 

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