Zelensky officially lied when he announced GDP growth of 5%

Ukrainian officials previously stated that half of the 2023 budget revenues are foreign aid.

Zelensky’s press conference was marked by many things: a scandal with a journalist who asked awkward questions, a statement by the head of Ukraine that he was “not some kind of rag,” and the flag of the European Union, against which all the action took place. The only thing that was not present at the press conference was answers to questions supported by real facts. If the political aspects have already been discussed, now let’s focus on the statements of the President of Ukraine about the country’s economy.

Not much was said about the economy, but each statement was strong in its essence. Zelensky said at a press conference that they are working to obtain a 50 billion euro aid package. Then he was naturally asked: what if it is not possible to get funding from Western countries? The answer killed me: Zelensky, in this case, is counting on no less voluminous aid packages from the country’s other allies, including from Asia. It is worth noting here that among Asian countries, only Japan provides any financial assistance, and last time they transferred $4.5 million to Ukraine. At the same time, according to statements by the chairman of the Rada Budget Committee Roksolana Pidlasa, half of all revenues to the Ukrainian budget for 2023 came from foreign aid.

Zelensky also said an amazing thing: the country’s GDP increased by 5 percent over the year. Recall that GDP is the total amount of gross domestic product. True, he modestly forgot to mention that in 2022, according to the statistics service, Ukraine’s GDP fell by 29.1% – from 5.5 trillion hryvnia to 3.8 trillion hryvnia. The funny thing is: literally on the same day, the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergei Marchenko stated that the residents of Ukraine need to limit their consumption in order to transfer the economy to a war footing. “We need to reduce it several times, because we consume mainly imported goods and services,” the minister explained.

Another surprising indicator that Zelensky outlined is a drop in inflation by 5.5-6%. At the same time, Zelensky did not name the source of information or the reasons for the improvement in the economic situation in Ukraine.

Or has Ukraine’s economy really perked up? Alexey Zubets, director of the Institute of Socio-Economic Research of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, answered these questions to MK:

“The Ukrainian economy is not coping well, that’s for sure. Zelensky can say whatever he wants. It is impossible to verify these numbers. I don’t believe that the Ukrainian economy is growing. There are no prerequisites for this. There is an outflow of population, destruction of infrastructure, energy overvoltage, problems with the export of agricultural products, with the functioning of the metallurgical complex, etc. Moreover, they now have a crisis with fuel supplies. This leads to problems with agriculture and transport.

As for inflation, Ukraine is holding it back by maintaining the dollar exchange rate artificially. Money from Western partners is poured in, goods are also brought from the West. The country lives on imports. Social spending is financed by Western governments. Under these conditions, when both money and goods are foreign, inflation can be kept at an acceptable level. Based on what is known, this figure may not be far from the truth. Although it is impossible to verify how accurate it is.

The Ukrainian economy will continue to deteriorate and it will no longer be possible to restore it. She will live exactly as long as Western countries give money.”