The key reasons for the deterioration of relations with the IMF are corruption and unprofessionalism of the authorities, – Yulia Tymoshenko

Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchyna party, expressed her opinion in an interview with Natalia Moseychuk, assuring that political issues should never be raised in memoranda with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She emphasized that these are exclusively financial relations.

The former prime minister noted that the IMF’s proposals for balancing the budget come from the government, the president, the finance minister, and the head of the National Bank. She criticized the current government, pointing to their strategy for financially covering budget gaps that hinders the poorest segments of the population, including increasing taxes for individual entrepreneurs and taxing international parcels. Tymoshenko also drew attention to the unjustified immunity of multi-billion dollar corruption schemes. As an example, she cited the situation when 175 billion hryvnias were transferred from the state budget to commercial banks through the National Bank.

Tymoshenko assured that the country has real resources that can be used to fill budget holes, emphasizing the need to protect the middle class.

The Batkivshchyna leader recalled her experience negotiating with the IMF during her two terms as prime minister, and noted that there had been no previous complaints about corruption in Ukraine. However, today corruption is a recurring theme in all memorandums.