New Ukrainian PM says economic growth key priority for his government

The main task of the new government is further economic growth, as announced by the new Prime Minister, Oleksiy Honcharuk during his address to the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday. "The most important task for the new government is economic growth, because all the problems that I have listed are solved by economic growth. We need to grow – grow not by 2-3%, but by at least 5-7%," the prime minister said. Among the main issues, Honcharuk named the obsolete infrastructure, the terrible state of housing and utility services, the war in the east of the country, and corruption. According to the official, to ensure economic growth, it is necessary to make resources cheap, reduce lending rates, ensure the independence of the National Bank, and change the attitude toward Ukraine in the rest of the world. Also, Honcharuk expects to overcome smuggling as a systemic phenomenon as early as by year-end. "Another trouble for Ukraine is smuggling. It kills competition and prevents businesses from developing normally. This also needs to be stopped, we know very well how to do it... I hope that by the end of the year we will have forgot about smuggling as a systemic phenomenon," Honcharuk said.

According to him, one of the main priorities of the new government of Ukraine will be making loans cheaper, which is a prerequisite for the development of the Ukrainian economy. "In Ukraine, there can be a mortgage in hryvnias at 12-13%. This can certainly be done next year. Already this year, the interest rate on loans may decrease. People will start doing business, this can restart construction and industry," Honcharuk said.

"Cheap lending is one of the tactical goals that we will set before ourselves in the near future," he added. Honcharuk also said that Ukraine would seek to accelerate integration with the European energy market, and to this end, competition must be ensured in the Ukrainian energy market and infrastructure. "The energy market and infrastructure are areas in which competition should be ensured as a priority. This means that Ukraine will strive to integrate into the European energy market. According to the plan, this will happen in 2023. This is a very long time, and we will do our best to not postpone, but, as a maximum, bring this date closer," he said.

According to Honcharuk, all these measures, combined with other factors, will lead to the fact that people will see lower bills. "We will stop subsidizing inefficiencies and paying superprofits to monopolies," he added. As UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Oleksiy Honcharuk Ukraine's new Prime Minister.