Ukraine’s Finance Minister resigns over stresses in economy

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ukraine’s Finance Minister Fedir Yaroshenko resigned as the former Soviet republic seeks to bolster its public finances after talks to resume a $15.6 billion international bailout loan stalled.

Yaroshenko, 62, said he decided to step down after consulting with Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, according to comments posted on President Viktor Yanukovych’s website. The official, who was appointed in March 2010 after Yanukovych won office, didn’t give a reason for his departure, Bloomberg reported.

Ukraine’s current-account deficit has widened on increased natural-gas imports, according to the central bank, which has tapped reserves to support the hryvnia. A 2010 bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund has been frozen since last March because the government didn’t raise household gas tariffs, a step the lender has demanded to trim losses at the state-owned energy company. Ukraine wants cheaper gas from Russia instead.

Yaroshenko’s exit probably reflects “broader stresses” in the economy, Tim Ash, head of emerging-market research at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London, said by e-mail. The government is battling “against declining popular support, a weakening budget and external financing position set against a break in relations with the IMF and problems in closing an agreement to deliver cheap gas from Russia.”