KIEV, April 16. /TASS/. Ukraine will never restore the former level of trade relations with Russia, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Thursday.
"Objectively, the trade relations that we had with Russia 10 years ago, will never be restored," the premier said at a meeting of the social and economic council for the prospects of Ukraine’s development.
"We need new markets," he said, adding Ukraine should look for ways for entering European markets.
The key problem for the Ukrainian economy is the "absence of a credit resource," which is caused by very high interest rates, Yatsenyuk said.
The completion of Kiev’s military operation in the country’s east may stimulate citizens to return money to bank deposits and help make the country more attractive to foreign investors, he added.
Ukraine’s ex-Prime Minister and former Head of the National Bank Sergey Arbuzov has said the Ukrainian economy has reached the bottom over the year after the events that led to the change of power in the country.
"Over the year, Ukraine has lost $7 billion from the rupture of trade relations with Russia. Ukraine’s trade turnover has plummeted by three times and its quick recovery is impossible. Meanwhile, it is in principle impossible to restore the commodity turnover alternatively without Russia. No one will allow us into Europe with our output. They view us only as a raw material appendage and the market for their goods," he said.