"Nobody intends to solve the problem": why Kiev allowed the refusal of pensions in 15 years

The Ukrainian government does not hide the fact that "the current 40-45-year-old Ukrainians can not count on retirement," says a RT source in the Batkivshchyna party.

“But no one intends to solve this problem.

It is clear that many officials and deputies have money for a comfortable old age.

What should people do?

After they cannot work, will they die without social assistance? "

- said the deputy.

In turn, a RT source in the Golos party believes that the number of able-bodied people in three to five years will be equal to the number of pensioners.

“People of working age are looking for work abroad.

Many parents of middle school children are studying the conditions for their admission to foreign universities and want their children to move to another country.

They have nothing to do in Ukraine.

In hospitals, you have to pay for literally everything; children need to hire tutors for almost all subjects.

It is also necessary to actually support retired parents.

What is the state doing in this situation?

Nothing.

The population survives as best it can, ”the deputy stated.

So the interlocutors of RT reacted to the statement of the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, who previously admitted that in the next 15 years Ukraine will be forced to abandon the payment of pensions.

The politician said this during his speech in front of the students of the Polytechnic University in Lviv, the corresponding video was published by the Cabinet.

Referring to the demographic situation, Shmyhal added that in the near future two people of retirement age will need to be supported for taxes of one working Ukrainian.

“We will have to double taxes so that pensioners can be supported.

Companies no longer want to increase taxes.

Double magnification is not possible.

We will not be able to pay pensions to future pensioners in 15 years.

It's simple mathematics, ”Shmygal said.

At the same time, at the end of September, the Committee on Social Policy of the Verkhovna Rada reported that in 2021 the state budget expenditures for financing the payment of pensions and covering the deficit of the Pension Fund will grow to UAH 203.8 billion (more than $ 7 billion).

On her Facebook page, the head of the profile committee, Galina Tretyakova, recalled that the size of loans, like the deficit of PFCs, has been growing annually for ten years in a row. 

• © Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters

According to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, from January to September 2020 alone, the department received less than UAH 16.9 billion (more than $ 596 million) in unified social contributions.

"Put on the brink of survival"

The main reason for the growth of the current deficit of revenues to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, leading researcher at IMEMO RAS, Mikhail Krivoguz, calls the crisis associated with the pandemic, in particular, the halt of business processes and mass layoffs of workers during quarantine.

According to the Ukrainian Employment Center, over 8 months (January to August) the number of layoffs increased by 154%.

"In fact, now, against the background of a difficult economic situation in the country, with his statement, Shmygal urged Ukrainians to save money for old age, to prepare for the fact that they will have to provide for their future on their own," the expert said in a conversation with RT.

At the same time, Krivoguz stated that Kiev's measures within the framework of the IMF recommendations did not help the country "somehow rectify the situation."

“Social support for pensioners and other segments of the population is so scanty that it cannot have a significant impact on the well-being of Ukrainians.

And all the IMF instructions on targeted assistance were never effectively applied, since the statistics system of Ukraine after 2014 collapsed and now cannot take into account all those in need, giving out often contradictory data, ”the analyst said.

An RT source in the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy was forced to admit that "pensioners are practically on the brink of survival."

“Over 80% of pensioners in Ukraine receive a pension below UAH 4,000 per month ($ 141), and we are well aware that it is almost impossible to survive on this money.

If a pensioner is not helped by children, he is simply not able to buy himself, for example, meat, which on average costs about UAH 150 ($ 5) per kg.

He is forced to eat cereals and stand in line for cheap bread.

I'm not even talking about medicines, most of which are simply not available to the elderly.

The problem is that soon these funds will not be left either, since the budget is not able to cover the deficit of the Pension Fund, ”he said.

In an interview with RT, a resident of Kiev, Elena, said that her grandmother, who has worked for more than 40 years at the country's enterprises, receives less than $ 130 a month.

• © Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP

“I am ashamed of our state and sorry for my grandmother.

She is 83 years old, she has worked in factories for more than 40 years and now receives 3.5 thousand hryvnias ($ 124) a month.

And she only needs at least 2 thousand hryvnias ($ 71) per month for medicines.

Here's how to survive in such a situation?

This year her pension was "increased" by as much as 20 hryvnyas ($ 0.71).

Sometimes I would like to meet with the Prime Minister and ask if he is ashamed? "

The woman said.

"The welfare state is killed"

It is noteworthy that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky admits that Ukrainians should not wait for pensions of the "European level".

He stated this on September 17 during his visit to the Lviv region, but expressed confidence that in a few years the country will reach "the normal human level of socialism."

However, experts, based on the current situation in the country, are not making optimistic forecasts.

Political scientist and economist Alexander Dudchak believes that the Ukrainian authorities may stop paying pensions earlier than 15 years later.

“All the policies that are being pursued in Ukraine are in line with the principle“ every man for himself ”, like in the jungle.

Anyone who can get something lives by this.

Now we can already state that the welfare state in Ukraine has been killed, and everything possible is being done to keep as few residents as possible in Ukraine, "the analyst said in a commentary on RT.

As the then Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Dmytro Dubilet explained to reporters, the main reasons for the decline in the population in the country are the negative ratio between births and deaths, as well as the “negative trend in migration”: more emigrants from Ukraine than come back - about 4 million Ukrainians remained abroad.

According to Dudchak, "it seems that a deliberate policy of depopulation is being pursued in the country."

“The low birth rate can be explained by the drop in the standard of living of the population, hence the massive migration abroad,” the expert explained.

• President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky

• © Sergey Dolzhenko / Pool via REUTERS

According to Dudchak, since 2014, Kiev has been purposefully pursuing a course to refuse social support for its citizens.

“Ukraine is less and less like a state that somehow worries about the fate of its population and works in its interests.

The Ukrainian authorities are rather concerned about the situation of those who organized the coup in 2014 and brought this whole team to power, which is destroying Ukraine and selling it, ”the analyst said.

However, in his opinion, the negative indicators of the living standards of Ukrainians, including people of retirement age, will be explained by the current administration not by their own miscalculations, but by difficult foreign policy conditions, the global crisis, COVID-19 or something else. 

As Mikhail Krivoguz noted, all these factors negatively affect the level of approval of Zelensky and the current party among the population, however, failures in the social policy of the presidential administration may become the “last straw”.

“We see that the popularity of the Servant of the People party and Zelensky himself has dropped quite a lot.

And the statements of officials controlled by the president that the bright future of Ukraine, which the president promised, clearly does not shine for the country, will only increase the distrust of the current government, ”the expert concluded.