The planned increase in prices for gas used by consumers in Ukraine is a measure that the country's government was forced to take in order to pay off external debt, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on Friday
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2018) The planned increase in prices for gas used by consumers in Ukraine is a measure that the country's government was forced to take in order to pay off external debt, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on Friday.
According to the Ukrainian National Bank, the gas prices for consumers will be increased by 25 percent in 2018 and by a further 15 percent in 2019. The increase is one of the requirements made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for continued cooperation with Ukraine and another tranche of credit worth $2 billion.
"It was not me who signed the commitments to increase these prices, they were initially signed as early as in 2009 ... But if we constantly deceive our foreign partners, they will turn their backs on us. That is why [the gas price increase] is a forced step aimed at gaining access to the external markets' funding in order to service and repay the debt," Groysman said.
He stressed that the Ukrainian government would fail to fulfill its commitments to its international partners if the measure was not adopted.
Earlier this year, Groysman revealed that the government was elaborating a new pricing formula for gas for consumers, and that it might be adopted in the upcoming heating season. In late August, the Ukrainian government once again postponed the increase in gas consumer prices until October 1.
