KIEV, September 1 (Itar-Tass) —— The Ukrainian government has prepared a comprehensive package of measures to prevent crises in the economy, Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said, as he delivered a lecture in front of an audience of students at Kiev’s Taras Shevchenko National University.
"First of all, it is necessary to maintain the stability of the national currency - the hryvnia. To do this we spend currency very sparingly, keep the currency reserves at the required level, completely covering all our needs for imports,” Azarov said. “We will do everything to achieve an influx of capital into the country, thereby increasing foreign exchange reserves."
He said with certainty that in ten years’ time “the Ukrainians will be chasing the hryvnia, not the dollar."
"The stability of the lives of our citizens and the economy is based on the stability of the currency. If all goes as we expect, in ten years’ time we will be chasing the hryvnia, not the dollar, especially so because the dollar is weak," said Azarov.
He declared that the government was seriously working on a program for import substitution.
"We must stop making more debts, we must borrow in the minimal amounts. First of all, we must repay the existing debts,” the prime minister added. “Within the framework of import substitution we can keep borrowing, but we shall do this with caution. The government should not squander resources, it should save money and always have a rainy day reserve."
He believes that there are “no fundamental reasons for the crisis,” and he ruled out "a full-scale crisis like the one that occurred previously."