Ukraine will be
unable to make do without US and European financial support in the future,
according to the Associated Press.
Washington's
dreams of Ukraine rebuilding its tattered economy in the aftermath
of the 2014 Maidan 'revolution' and subsequent regime change may never
come true and the next few years may see Kiev continuing to depend
on European and US financial aid, the Associated Press reported.
It referred to US Secretary of Commerce Penny
Pritzker's visit to Ukraine, where she discussed ways in which Kiev
could be weaned from Western aid.
Her visit came amid the US's announcement that it
would give Ukraine another one billion dollars in loan guarantees
on the condition that the country undergo a series of reforms.
The money will be allocated on top of a
17.5-billion-dollar aid program from the International Monetary Fund.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Pritzker
touted Washington's decision on the loan guarantee as a "vote
of confidence" in Ukraine's efforts to resolve the economic
deadlock.
In this regard, the Associated Press specifically pointed
to a "freefall" in Ukraine's trade ties with Russia,
which had long been Kiev's biggest commercial partner.
Ukraine's goods exports to Russia in the
past eight months were reportedly less than half what they were a
year earlier, "and replacing that lost trade will be hard", the
Associated Press said.
The news agency also cited a substantial decrease
in Ukraine's exports to the US and the EU, with China's
investments in Ukraine's agriculture being the only silver lining.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko
has made it plain that restoring Russian trade to pre-conflict levels is
not on the government's agenda. According to her, the focus will be
placed on Ukraine's wider European and global integration.
Kiev and its European and North American allies have
repeatedly accused Russia of meddling in the armed conflict
in eastern Ukraine, where government troops have carried
out so-called anti-terrorist operations against supporters
of the Donbass region's independence since April 2014. Moscow
vehemently denies these allegations.
Source: Sputnik News 29-10-2015
