Tymoshenko: election campaign hampers anti-crisis fight worst

The election campaign, which has actually started at the Ukrainian parliament, is the key problem for solving the crisis in the national economy, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said during her meeting with the ambassadors of Japan, Great Britain, Germany, the US, Italy, Canada, the European Commission, representatives of the embassy of France, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"The main problem is combination of pragmatic actions in the social field with political opportunities. The majority of questions are a competence of Verkhovna Rada, which has already plunged into presidential elections. And it is extremely difficult, practically impossible, now to pass vital but unpopular laws," the Prime Minister emphasized.

She also said some political forces had started to act according to the principle "the worse the better", counting that the whole responsibility for the Ukrainian economy would finally fall upon the government.

Anyway, the Ukrainian government managed to adopt the budget and anti-crisis laws. "We passed them in the content and configuration that was possible with the current alignment of political forces. However, we will try to fulfill them," the Premier said.

Despite problems, economic situation in Ukraine also produces certain positive results, Tymoshenko said. She informed of over-fulfillment of the general revenue of the national budget by 6%, and over-fulfillment of the pension fund budget by 21%.

UKRINFORM