Ukraine and the rest of the world have recently focused attention to poverty – October 16 marked World Food Day and October 17, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Statistically, every sixth inhabitant of this planet is starving. Ukraine survived the Holodomor, which is currently being regarded as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people, but now, fortunately, it is not threatened with a large-scale famine. Poverty, however, is indeed a threat. According to a number of international organizations, poverty has become a widespread and persevering phenomenon, despite the efforts on the part of quite a few governments to feed their people.
On October 17, Myroslav Yakybchuk, head of the National Forum of Trade Unions of Ukraine (NFPU), demonstrated the kind of macaroni, grouts, fats, meats, and other products consumed by average Ukrainians. He suggested comparing the monthly food basket, which is used by the government to determine Ukraine’s social standards (the press release handed out to the journalists called it a “starvation ration”), to that determined by Ukraine’s Ministry of Health (MOZ) as absolutely necessary for a working man. This comparison was obviously not in favor of the government’s standard, considering that the amount of products purchased by the trade union functionary’s assistants fill not one but two baskets. Yakybchuk said they value of the real basket is 1,567 hryvnias. This, he said, should be the subsistence level in Ukraine. The NFPU head stressed that all those who couldn’t afford this were below the poverty line.
The day before the poverty issue and basic social standards and guarantees on the part of the government were analyzed by the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU). The roundtable “Overcoming Poverty Is the Trade Unions’ Priority” offered information to the effect that in 2008 Ukraine’s official subsistence level was set at 662 hryvnias per month. Ukraine’s official poverty statistics were much lower than those obtained by the trade unions. If one were to believe the government statistics, there are no poverty-stricken people in Ukraine. FPU statistics, in contrast, show that the subsistence wage for the employed, as envisaged by the 2010 budget bill, is 681 hryvnias, as of Jan.1, 2010, and 734 hryvnias as of Dec. 1, 2010, whereas FPU estimates, made in accordance with effective legislation, point to 1,782 and 1,920 hryvnias, accordingly.
That same day the journalists were invited to the office of the World Bank to hear another forecast of Ukrainian macroeconomic indices: Ukraine’s GDP was expected to drop by 15 percent in 2009, while inflation rate is expected to hit to 14 percent. The next year promises only a slight improvement: GDP growth of 2.5 percent and the inflation rate of 11 percent. The World Bank has always paid special attention to the poverty rate in Ukraine, but not this time, so The Day got in touch with WB experts and asked for comment. Chief economist Pablo Saavedra said that a central budget overloaded by social programs could fuel inflation. Martin Raiser, WB Director for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova, said Ukraine isn’t actually as poor as it may appear to be.
