As it has already been reported, World Bank director for Ukraine and Belarus, Luca Barbone, has arrived in Ukraine to discuss the further pattern of cooperation between this country and the World Bank.
The World Bank is expected to continue drawing up an aid strategy for Ukraine until the end of June 2000. This strategy may consist of three flexible loans within the next three years. Each of the three projected operations is expected to amount to $150-250 million each, and will be dispersed depending on the progress of the reforms by Ukraine’s government. While the negotiations between the World bank and the Ukrainian government are taking place The Day asked Mr. Barbone about the likely results.
“Mr. Barbone, the Ukrainian government hopes to receive a $400-million World Bank loan. To what extent do you think is it realistic for Ukraine to be given these funds?”
“The negotiations about the future program of cooperation with the Ukrainian government are at the mid-point, and this process should be completed before any concrete loan figures can be made public. But I do not think the government’s hopes are unrealistic.”
“What is the main complaint of the World Bank, as a creditor, about the work of the Ukrainian government?”
“As a whole, we are satisfied with the approach of the Ukrainian government to reforms, but we would like the reforms to be speeded up. We would like to stress the necessity of measures to enhance transparency, tighten corruption control, and increase the government’s impeccability.”
“Do you mean staff replacements in the government?”
“No, we mean no staff replacements. The point is the privatization process should be very transparent and unfold according to clear-cut rules rather than some back-room deals.”
IN THE MEANTIME
Addressing the morning plenary session of parliament, Tuesday, May 30, the member of the Fatherland faction, Oleh Bilous, announced that his faction supports the reformist Cabinet led by Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko and resolutely rejects “the cynical assaults on the Yushchenko government.”
Calling upon “Ukraine’s healthy forces to unite against the oligarchs,” the representative of a faction, which had delegated by no means a workingman to the government (the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko), left unanswered at least two questions.
Firstly, did the Fatherland faction’s rejection of “cynical assaults” also included the sound doubts at least as to the tempo of the reforms, which as we see from the above interview, are not only in the heads of our compatriots? Secondly, on the basis of what theoretical doctrines is it possible to unite “Ukraine’s all healthy forces,” if the struggle, for which Mr. Bilous called, has assumed not between classes but clearly are of an intra-class nature?
Do not the rhetorical remarks of this pro-Cabinet faction confirm the long- established rule: the amount of rhetoric varies directly with the approach of a showdown?
