(Vatican Radio) Talks between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund on more
than 15 billion dollars in financial assistance have failed. The IMF says it will
continue to hold a new round of negotiations. Yet, the troubles come at a difficult
moment for the financially troubled former Soviet republic.
listen to the
report by Stefan Bos in Ukraine...
Talks between
Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund on more than
15 billion dollars
in financial assistance have failed. The IMF says it will continue to hold a new round
of negotiations, but the delay could not have come at a worse moment for the financially
troubled former Soviet republic.
At a local market in the Western Ukrainian
town of Uzhhorod residents are not suprised that the international lender is reluctant
to transfer 15 billion dollars to this troubled nation.
People here view
Ukraine as a failed state such as Somalia. The only difference: Here it's snowing,
in winter.
Judges, policemen and an army of bureaucrats bought their lucrative
jobs, says an elderly man, who is afraid to give his name.
"Ukraine doesn't
need money from the IMF," he said, with his wife holding him tightly as they strolled
through the market.
CORRUPTION CRACKDOWN
"Ukraine can easily improve
the economy by cracking down on corruption in the local and national administrations.
Everyone steals from the clerk to the chief," the man added.
Besides
tackling corruption, the IMF has urged Ukraine to introduce reforms in especially
the energy sector. That also means higher prices for electricity and natural gas.
But
62-year old salesperson Ilona Nagy doesn't agree. "We think that if this top officials
will steal less, than it will probably not be necessary to rise prices [or] to ask
money from abroad," she told Vatican Radio.
"The problem is stealing and
the huge, tremendous, corruption here," she noted.
Those sentiments worry
President Viktor Yanukovych who doesn't want another 'Orange Revolution' -- a reference
to pro-democracy protests of 2004 -- this time involving the many impoverished people
here.
WAR VETERANS
He also fears widespread anger among war veterans,
or those who claim to be a veteran for a somewhat better pension.
Among them
is a man who told Vatican Radio that he receives benefits for "helping" to invade
Czechoslovakia as a soldier in 1968, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
To
pay him and millions of other senior citizens, Ukraine's government will have to borrow
billions on the international market.
But Ukraine faces an uphill battle
to convince investors, with an economic crisis and IMF concerns over this country's
financial future.