The government’s Economic Committee endorsed the bill on allocating an additional 400 million hryvnias to compensate for the depreciated savings Ukrainian citizens had in the former USSR Oshchadbank.
This is probably how Tymoshenko’s government has reacted to the demand of the Presidential Secretariat to declare more clearly its further policy on returning citizens’ savings.
However, in the conditions of the current financial-economic crisis the government may be criticized only for its failure to fulfill the pre-election promises. On Jan. 11, 2008 the Ukrainian government started to return the depreciated savings to the former depositors of the USSR Oshchadbank. At that time Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko reported that a thousand hryvnias would be returned to each depositor, while those whose deposits exceeded this sum, will receive subsequent installments on further stages.
Since the beginning of 2008 12 million people have registered to receive the compensation, but only 6.3 million were able to receive the so-called Yulia’s thousand. First Deputy Head of the Presidential Secretariat Oleksandr Shlapak admitted that the government had accumulated a large debt before the citizens. According to the Secretariat’s calculations, the projected number of citizens who will apply for the compensation by the end of 2008 is 14.8 million. With the average sum of redemption at 915 hryvnias, the total amount needed will be 7.7 billion hryvnias.
However, Tymoshenko, who discerned the threat of the financial crisis very late, at that time was full of enthusiasm, dubbing the actions of her Cabinet as historical and continuing to make promises, “We will do everything to fulfill our duties in paying the savings.” However, at the same time she mentioned attempts to prevent the government from doing so by blocking the process of honest privatization. “This is bold political sabotage performed by the opponents of our government. This is a secret practice of intrigues and ruining people’s interests,” the prime minister asserted, without mincing words, and argued that her cause would be brought to fruition because she considered the obstacles created for her Cabinet of Ministers to be “simply ridiculous.”
Head of Ukraine’s Oshchadbank Anatolii Hulei, who has clearly been following the government’s political course, said that the bank planned to finish paying out compensations by Dec. 25, 2008 (in some places they were suspended in May 2008). He admitted that the debt before the registered citizens who had not received their money was six billion hryvnias. He promised to complete payments by December 25 (as soon as the money comes), although he admitted that the money “wasn’t coming in the desired amounts.”
Now the dreams seem to be coming true. But will 400 million hryvnias be enough to resolve the problem? Answering this question, I should admit that this sum is much more acceptable for the economy than what common sense and the sense of fairness demand. But here one should acknowledge the government’s courage in taking such an unpopular measure. (It is probably 100 percent sure now that there will be no elections.)
At the same time it seems that this minimum sum may become a source of new problems for many elderly citizens. Of course, the crisis, inflation, and devaluation of the hryvnia will make people stand in lines and do so with anxiety: 400 million will not be enough for everyone. Deaths and heart attacks near the offices of the Oshchadbank were reported in spring when there was, it seemed, enough money for everyone. What will happen then in autumn? I would not want to play the role of Cassandra.
