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Govt huddles to approve crisis measures
Journal Staff Report

KIEV, April 14 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko held an emergency meeting of the government to approve anti-crisis measures on Tuesday shortly after Parliament rejected these measures, jeopardizing further lending from the International Monetary Fund.

The measures approved by the government include cutting budget spendingand narrowing budget deficit, increasing revenue at the Pension Fund, the state social security agency, and Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the state oil and gas company.

“All resolutions were approved overwhelmingly,” Tymoshenko said after the government meeting. “As the prime minister I will not allow to undermine the cooperation with the IMF. That’s why the actions had been worked out to ensure the cooperation continues.”

Ukraine, whose revenue from exports collapsed due to weak demand for steel, needs IMF money to avoid default on foreign debts this year and next, analysts said. Tymoshenko repeatedly denied reports that the country has been facing default.

The IMF in January postponed lending to Ukraine within $16.4 billion two-year stand-by loan after the Tymoshenko government had resorted to running a wider-than-agreed budget deficit this year.

Ukraine seeks to obtain at least $1.85 billion installment from the IMF by the middle of May after receiving $4.5 billion installment in November 2008. Tymoshenko said the government will be seeking to get two installments in one shot.

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, the leader of an IMF team to Ukraine, praised the move by the government to approve the measures balancing out the budget, but did not elaborate on Ukraine’s chances of getting the lending resumed.

"It's encouraging to see that progress is being made," Pazarbasioglu told reporters at a joint press conference with Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko on Tuesday failed to secure support for the legislation from more than 208 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament, underscoring the fact that she does not control the majority. Tymoshenko, however, claimed that she does control the majority, a claim that in fact allows her to survive as the prime minister.

According to Ukraine’s constitution, the prime minister can be appointed by the coalition that controls the majority in Parliament.

Tymoshenko lost support of two dozens of lawmakers, mostly those loyal to President Viktor Yushchenko, in September 2008 when she had tried to create the anti-Yushchenko coalition with the opposition Regions Party. The talks with the Regions, however, later collapsed, forcing Tymoshenko to seek again the alliance with the Yushchenko party, Our Ukraine, which had split.

Tymoshenko on Tuesday attacked Yushchenko for undermining the government’s efforts to secure the lending from the IMF.

“Unfortunately, the vote in Parliament was consciously and cynically undermined through non-support by those Our Ukraine lawmakers that is directly controlled by the president,” Tymoshenko said.

Yushchenko, who had a special meeting with lawmakers to persuade them to support the anti-crisis legislation, on Tuesday accused Tymoshenko of inability to find a common ground with political groups.

“There is the Parliament in the country, there is the coalition that formed the Cabinet of Ministers and elected the prime minister,” Yushchenko said. “It is the coalition and the prime minister who leads the majority that are responsible for the voting in Parliament,” Yushchenko said.

Viacheslav Kyrylenko, the leader of For Ukraine group and one of the lawmakers who refused to back Tymoshenko’s anti-crisis legislation, said the government had refused to include amendments from the group.

“The government did everything to make the legislation fail by refusing to incorporate all the amendments,” he said. (tl/ez)




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