Why "Naftogaz" does not pay to "Gazprom".
The Russian economist Nikita Krichevsky heard enough, as we all have, about the horrors of the economic situation in the Ukraine - they say because of lack of money it can not pay for gas. And he decided to look into the Ukrainian statistics. Imagine his surprise when he saw that there is money in the Ukraine!
Thus,the Ukraine owes Gazprom $ 4.5 billion for gas and does not want to pay, they say there is nothing left. But here are some numbers. The NBU reserves - $ 17.9 billion. The consolidated budget revenues in January (unfortunately, more recent data is not available) - $ 3.8 billion. The municipal services utilities collect approximately the same amount as the budget "earns" per month, Krichevsky writes. However, there is a caveat - the people, using the revolutionary moment, pay poorly for the communal services, it owes $ 1.6 billion. But from July the tariffs in Ukraine will increase by 40-50%, so that there will still be a lot of money.
- It turns out that Ukraine has the money to pay for the Russian gas (at least, to pay in installments). It is not paying following the age-old Ukrainian national character trait - to fight for the benefits in a small, deliberately ignoring the loss in the large. So, only payment in advance, otherwise we will be used in the future. "Gazprom" should have taken this step earlier. But this is politics, - Krichevsky wrote on his page on one of the social networks.
However, there are other assessments of the situation in Ukrainian economy. CEO Gazprom Alexei Miller told the reporters on Monday that the situation in Ukraine is horrifying. In particular, Naftogaz is unable to collect the payments from the consumers of gas in the country, and this is one of the reasons why Naftogaz doesn’t pay Russia. The cause of gas conflict Miller sees primarily in Ukrainian economic crisis, and only secondarily - in the activities of stubborn and amateur politicians. So maybe after January - when Viktor Yanukovych was kicked by the opposition and the conflict in the east unleashed - all became so bad that it could not be worse? Krichevsky does not believe it.
- The GDP for the first quarter fell by only 1.1%, - he told "the KP" - And the National Bank reserves have not gone away. The National Bank could just pay Gazprom the $ 500 million, that Gazprom claimed as a condition for the negotiations. And save the country from the prepayment.
