Koretskyi’s stark presentation on Ukraine’s finances comes as ‘cold shower’ for officials

Filed 3h ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Jean-Adolphe Beaucé / Georges Rouget · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Ukraine's new Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi has been presenting lawmakers and President Zelenskyy with blunt charts showing a financial gap of tens of billions of dollars between available resources and required year-end spending, according to Ukrainska Pravda. Lawmakers reportedly described the briefings as unforgettable, and one said officials hadn't been this rattled since the pandemic's onset.

The candor is a break from predecessor Yulia Svyrydenko's gentler approach to the same numbers. Koretskyi is pushing the Rada to pass European integration and financing-linked legislation tied to up to $12.7 billion in international support, but lawmakers rejected nearly all such bills on Sept. 1.

Separately, Ukraine's defense ministry has flagged a $27 billion shortfall, and budget revenues through August ran 33.1 billion hryvnias below plan. Koretskyi has announced austerity measures for non-defense spending as the government tries to close the gap.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Telling lawmakers the truth in plain numbers apparently counts as a shock to the system, which tells you plenty about how things were being explained before. A budget hole this size doesn't get smaller because the slides are gentler. Good on the new guy for the cold shower, though the vote a day later suggests the Rada would rather stay dry.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: Trio for Piano, Cello, and Clarinet · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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