According to IMF figures, the Ukrainian GDP plunged 7 percent in January 2014. The downfall continued through 2015 with the economic indices sagging by a hefty 17.6 percent between January and April. The forecast for the future is equally uninspiring, the paper added.
While the cost of homegrown produce has not changed much from last year, imported food is going through the roof forcing many to stop buying oranges, bananas and other foreign-grown treats.
“What we now have are European prices and old, Ukrainian, salaries,” a struggling local vegetable vendor told the newspaper.
Bananas are not the only thing millions of Ukrainians are no longer able to afford. With the hryvniya in a permanent nosedive ever since the so-called “Maidan revolution”, all imports, including first-necessity goods, clothing and household electronics are now a luxury few people can afford to buy.
There is a 100 percent spike in gas prices as well as public transport fare, Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote.
Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk blames the country’s economic woes on the loss of territories in Donbass and the need to support the million-plus refugees fleeing war-torn eastern Ukraine.
Millions feel the pinch now that the traditional subsidies for natural gas, pre-school education and things like that are gone, and many people are no longer able to pay back their bank loans – an alarming situation, which the newspaper fears may only get worse as the country plunges ever deeper into chaos…
