Third of economy not operating in Ukraine, but there is no risk of default - finance minister
KYIV. March 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) - About 30% of businesses have completely or temporarily halted their operations in Ukraine, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said, citing preliminary data based on tax payments.
"Our preliminary calculations on the payment of taxes [...] indicate that about 30% of the economy is either not operating or temporarily not operating. These are calculations based on the payment of personal income tax, and the unified social tax," he said during a telethon on Saturday.
"A third of the economy is not functioning right now," the finance minister said.
Domestic and foreign borrowing is the main channel to cover state budget needs, as tax and customs revenues have dropped sharply, Marchenko said. At the same time, Ukraine serves its debt in full.
"There was no and there is no risk of a default. First, our debt burden is not so large, especially this year. Secondly, we carefully service our debts. We do not use such words," Marchenko said.