The government pension fund alone is short of 25 billion hryvnais ($3.1 billion), and investors worry Kiev might have problems repaying its short-term domestic debt, which it has been issuing in increasing volumes and at sky-high yields as an economic crisis takes its toll.
"The previous government has masked that the financial state of the country was on the brink of catastrophe ... I assure you there is no (threat of default)," Yaroshenko said.
Ukraine needs to find $3-5 billion a quarter to cover budget spending and Yaroshenko confirmed the government will stick with its social obligations despite empty state coffers and rising public debt. [ID:nLDE628276]
He did not specify the potential sources of the funds the country needs to make up for the budget shortage.
The Ukraine's new Prime Minister Mykola Azarov earlier indicated the government could seek to renegotiate the IMF programme agreed by the former government.
The International Monetary Fund has already said it would consider Ukraine's request to restart its $16.4 billion loan programme, suspended last year in the run-up to presidential elections.
Source:reuters.com/
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