The increase in the cost of gas for Ukrainian citizens has led to an increase in related tariffs of housing and communal services. This was stated by Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Andrei Reva. According to him, Ukrainians will have to pay at new prices from December.
"Given that about 70% in the tariff for heat and hot water - this is the cost of gas, according to preliminary estimates, according to my calculations, it should be 16%", - quoted the official UNN.
However, he does not expect an increase in the number of applicants who will not be able to fully pay for utilities. According to him, compared with 2017, the number of applications has decreased by 2.5 million.
“The gas tariffs rise by 23.5%, and on average salaries and pensions for previous periods, which are taken into account when calculating, they have increased by approximately this indicator,” Reva said.
Meanwhile, the source of RT in NAK Naftogaz stated the opposite. According to him, the government faces a difficult task - to reduce the number of recipients of subsidies.
“Yes, it is necessary to make tariffs economically justified and get away from subsidies. That's right. But is the population ready for this? Why no one thinks about ordinary people who have to give the last for the right not to freeze in the winter? It’s all like an experiment on real people, ”a spokesman for the Popular Front Party said in an interview with RT.
On Friday, October 19, the Ukrainian cabinet approved an increase in gas prices for the population by 23.5% within the framework of the agreements of the International Monetary Fund. Thus, from November 1, Ukrainian citizens will pay 8.5 thousand hryvnias per thousand cubic meters of gas. In response, the IMF allocates Kiev with another $ 3.9 billion loan “to ensure economic sustainability” of the state in 2019.
At the same time, the Interfax-Ukraine agency, referring to the prospectus for issuing Eurobonds of the Ministry of Finance, confirmed that the new program to support Ukraine’s economic policy will be approved only after the final revision of heating tariffs in accordance with the increase in gas prices.
Meanwhile, the publication of “Economic Truth” from sources, it became known that the IMF did not abandon its initial requirements for raising the price of gas to market value.
"The lender is waiting for another increase in the spring of next year - by 15%, and the next is scheduled for autumn 2019," the article says.
RT confirmed this information to a source at Naftogaz, adding that the International Monetary Fund received a promise from the Verkhovna Rada.
“The IMF insists that prices for consumers should be the same as those of industrial enterprises. We do not imagine how people will be able to pay for gas 11 thousand UAH ($ 390) per 1 thousand cubic meters, ”he says.
“Most Ukrainians will face a difficult choice.”
At the same time, Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman, as in 2017, ruled out the possibility of further increasing the cost of fuel. According to him, such a development is unacceptable for Ukrainian citizens. He assured that the country is fully ready for the heating season - 2018/2019.
“A sufficient level of gas reserves has been accumulated in the storage facilities. This means that nothing threatens the heating season, ”he said, speaking in parliament.
In March 2018, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko urged citizens to follow his example and reduce the heating temperature “by one degree” in the face of a gas shortage.
At the same time, the population of Ukraine expresses its disagreement with the economic course that Kiev has chosen. According to the results of a survey conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 53.5% of respondents consider the influence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Ukraine’s policy to be negative.
On Tuesday, October 24, the Batkivshchyna Party of Ex-Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko organized a protest against the increase in gas prices. Protesters occupied the intersection of Institutskaya and Bankovaya streets of Kiev, where the building of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine is located. They demand the abolition of the government’s decision to increase the cost of fuel.
- Participants of the rally in Kiev against the increase in gas prices
- RIA News
According to a RT source in Batkivshchyna, the party intends to challenge the government’s decision to raise tariffs.
“The rise in prices will lead to the fact that the majority of Ukrainians will face a difficult choice: to pay for utilities or buy food. I do not even mention that in the near future consumers will turn on the heating only during the severe frosts several times over the winter. It seems to me that officials could think about their citizens and not dance to the tune of foreign creditors, ”said the source.
"The IMF and Kiev authorities are destroying Ukraine"
Professor of the Department of Comparative Political Science at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the RUDN University Yury Pochta believes that the IMF’s demand for a further increase in gas prices will still be fulfilled.
“The current leadership, receiving such loans and bringing poverty to the limit, understands that it has no future. Apparently, indeed, in the elections of the next year, power will change. And the current leaders will simply “eat out”, realizing that there will be no life for them here. Unfortunately, in Ukraine, the degradation of both the economy and the political system is in full swing, ”said the expert.
According to political analyst Yuri Svetov, Kiev’s refusal to cooperate with Moscow, including in the energy sector, hit exclusively on the population of Ukraine.
“Because of idiotic political ambitions, because they obey the dictates of Americans who want to sell their liquefied gas more expensive in Europe, because of rising gas prices, everything will go up: heat and water. Those who cannot pay will be forced to abandon the use of gas. And those who pay will ensure the ambitions of Mr. Poroshenko and his entourage, ”he stressed.