On February 10, Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko attended a meeting of the Parliament’s Committee for economic policy. During the meeting the Government members reported on their work results achieved in 2015.

In the beginning of her speech the Minister of Finance referred to the financial and economic situation in the country in the beginning of 2015, when Ukraine was hardly able to finance its basic social priorities. However, in the end of the year the Government managed to stabilize the financial and budgetary system of the country and prevented a financial collapse. The results of the Government’s work are as follows:

The State Treasury accounts are full, and the Government has enough cash to duly transfer all social welfare payments (in December 2015 pensions were even paid in advance for January 2016);

The reserves of the National Bank, which could only cover one month supply of import goods critically needed for the country (USD 5b), were increased and can now cover three months of critically needed imports (USD 13b);

Inflation was stabilized, it was slowing down steadily from 14% in April 2015 to a deflation of 1.3% in October 2015;

The downturn trend of the real economy sector which started in 2012 changed radically and turned to a growth – the quarterly GDP index changed from a down by 5.3% in the first quarter of 2015 to a growth of 0.7% in the third quarter of 2015 – it was the first growth in the last two years, the results in the first quarter of 2015 are expected to be even better.

According to Natalie Jaresko, these positive results are a proof for comprehensive structural changes which laid ground for the resumption of the economic growth in 2016.

«Last year, our joint efforts helped us cope with the most critical economic challenges and stabilize the situation. However, this stability is still fragile, which is why we will continue our structural reforms and stick to the prudent budget policy to lay a solid base for a sustainable economic growth», the Minister of Finance said.