Ukrainian Oligarch Kolomoyskyi Says Zelensky Should Default On Country's External Debt

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published May 26, 2019 | 05:40 PM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th May, 2019) Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi said in an interview published on Sunday that the new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, should default on the country's external debt and reject the International Monetary Fund's austerity program, following the examples of Greece and Argentina.

Media reports have repeatedly claimed that Zelensky is backed by Kolomoyskyi, former governor of Dnipropetrovsk Region and owner of the 1+1 broadcaster, which ran Zelensky's shows during the latter's years as an entertainer. Zelensky has acknowledged business ties with Kolomoyskyi, but has denied being backed by him.

"In my opinion, we should treat our creditors the way Greece does. That's an example for Ukraine ... How many times has Argentina defaulted? ... So what, they restructured it. It's fine," Kolomoyskyi told the Financial Times in an interview.

The tycoon also urged the United States and the European Union to write off Ukraine's debt completely to compensate for the country's expenses during its stand-off against Russia.

"This is your game, your geopolitics. You don't care about Ukraine. You want to hurt Russia, and Ukraine is just an excuse," he said.

Kolomoyskyi also denied funding Zelensky's presidential campaign, adding that his assets had been frozen and that his broadcaster's debt to Zelensky's production company was about $8 million.

In November, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said the country could avoid default on debt obligations in 2019 only if it continues cooperation with the IMF. Ukraine will spend almost $15 billion on servicing and paying off government debt in 2019, the country's finance minister Oksana Markarova said then.

In December, the IMF Executive board approved a $3.9 billion stand-by program for Ukraine for a period of 14 months. The IMF then announced it would immediately provide Ukraine with a $1.4 billion tranche from the new loan package and make the rest of the financial aid available after semiannual reviews are completed.