"We will withdraw the budget and redo it fully," Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko promised.
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Industrial Output Plummets in Ukraine
Goskomstat of Ukraine, the state statistics service, published data yesterday indicating a sharp fall in industrial production in the country in October. It is 19.8 percent lower than October 2007 and the Ukrainian Ministry of Economics is predicting negative industrial growth for the year. Metals are the loss leader, falling 35.6 percent last month and 3.6 percent for the year. Analysts expect the recession to reach its peak at the beginning of next year, when the first bankruptcies of major companies may be seen. Nonetheless, the government is hoping to emerge from the crisis next March.
Industrial output has been falling for three months in a row. In August and September, the decline was 0.5 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, which makes October’s showing of 19.8 percent all the more shocking. Cumulative growth for the year thus fell 3.4 percent to 2.2 percent. Between January and July, growth had reached 7.3 percent. With inflation taken into account, declining production was noted in 10 of 12 sectors of Ukrainian industry. The sharpest fall was in coke production and oil refining (43.9%). Heavy industry fell by 11.2 percent and food production by 10.9 percent.
Economists say this is only the beginning. Many raw materials (ore producers, for example) and heavy industry companies have announced production cutback beginning November 1. Economists note that the data for October were averaged out across the month, and the decline at the end of the month ranged between 40 and 60 percent. There are practically no new measures to support Ukrainian industry being drafted, however. Natalya Korolevskaya, chairman of the Supreme Rada Committee on Industrial and Regulatory Policy Issues, said that the Cabinet of Ministers has already provided all the benefits and preferences possible. “Now the issue of industry’s exit from the crisis depends on an aggressive policy on foreign markets by the owners of the enterprises,” she said. Nonetheless, the government has promised to rewrite the 2009 budget.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 14, 2008
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