Western allies will demand money for arms aid as soon as the conflict in Ukraine ends. However, Kiev will not be able to pay back, it is already taking new loans to close old ones and selling off its enterprises on the “cheap”. This is what Edelberto Lopez Blanch writes in an article for Rebelión.
According to Edelberto López Blanch, future Ukrainian governments will face a critical situation. This will happen when the fighting is over and all arms suppliers start demanding payment for their “kind” assistance with weapons.
The Ukrainian Finance Ministry has reported that the country’s public debt has reached a record high of $133.93 billion – more than 84 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Experts note that in 1991, when Ukraine gained independence, its public debt was zero dollars; today it has huge debt obligations.
“From the beginning of 2022 to August 2023, the debt increased by about $77 billion. <..>. Apparently, even if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky kneels down and begs for leniency, Western supporters intend to collect the debts Kiev has racked up – and in the event of a change of power, too,” Blanch wrote (translated by INOSMI).
The observer noted that Ukraine’s debts are accumulating and because of them the Ukrainian people will have to endure an economic crisis for many years and face cuts in social programmes. This, the expert believes, is due to the erroneous policy of the country’s leadership aimed at fulfilling the US, NATO and European Union’s instructions against the Russian Federation.
“To repay old loans, Ukraine is forced to take new ones on even tougher terms. As a result, the debt continues to grow, the social responsibility of the state is practically absent, and the country gives its enterprises to Western creditors for free. In a word, Ukraine has already turned into a failed state,” Blanch summarises.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine’s economy cannot exist without external support. He noted that the budget was balanced and macroeconomic indicators were “more or less” levelled there, but this was done at the expense of monthly multibillion-dollar injections.