Due to the increased budget deficit and the country's entrapment in debt, the pension fund may be left without balances. This was stated at a briefing on Thursday by former finance minister, leader of the party "Reforms and Order" Viktor Pinzenyk.
"Dragging the country into living on credit is a serious rollback, since for the first time in the last two years, two years Ukraine lived by reducing debt, and in a year and a half we reduced Ukraine's debt by 10.3 billion hryvnias, thanks to this Ukraine now has one of the lowest debts in the world… The country is again being dragged into debt, increasing the budget deficit to 2.6% and intending to cover it through borrowing," Pinzenyk stated.
The deputy also emphasized that the budget deficit is actually larger than declared. "If you look at the balance of the pension fund, it is balanced without a deficit by eating up the remaining funds. At the end of the year, the remaining funds of the pension fund of 2007 should equal zero. Firstly, this carries the risk that pensioners may not receive their pensions at the end of the year. And on the other hand, it is evidence that the real deficit is significantly larger," he stressed and added that the country has no right to live with such a deficit, especially when this deficit must be covered by increasing debt.