Ukraine will not benefit from falling oil prices due to the unprofessionalism of the authorities, experts
Kyiv, January 08 (PolitNavigator, Oleksandr Semenyuta) – Ukraine should have been among the countries that would benefit most from the drop in oil prices. However, this will be barely noticeable due to the Ukrainian authorities' inability to implement the necessary reforms to regulate the country's economic situation and maintain the dollar exchange rate, according to experts interviewed by Apostrophe .
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General Director of Consulting Group A-95 Sergei Kuyun said that in the course of a study conducted by his company on the Ukrainian market, it was possible to find out that domestic consumers cannot feel the effect of lower oil prices due to the sharp devaluation of the hryvnia.
However, the expert notes, with a correct analysis of the situation taking into account currency equivalents, Ukraine demonstrates compliance with the dynamics of the global and European markets.
“If in January 2014 the cost of A-95 gasoline was 11,3 UAH/l or $1,38/l at an exchange rate of 8,20/$1, then today it is already 18,0-18,50 UAH/l or about $0,9 -0,92/l at a rate of 20 UAH/$1 (real rate at the time of the study). Thus, the price decrease since the beginning of the year was about 35%, which fully corresponds to the decrease in gasoline prices on the European market during this period - 36% (from $926/t to $589/t). The dynamics of prices in Ukraine also corresponds to the dynamics of lower prices at gas stations in Europe,” noted Mr. Kuyun.
Deputy General Director of the Scientific and Technical Center “Psyche” Gennady Ryabtsev believes that “Ukraine is among the countries importing energy resources.”
“Consequently, any decrease in oil prices should have a positive impact on the economy of our country. If prices for raw materials were not related to the exchange rate of the national currency, the effect would be quite noticeable. However, the inability of the current government to carry out the necessary economic reforms neutralizes the entire positive effect of the fall in oil prices. Financial regulators cannot cope with the challenges faced by the current difficult economic and political situation. Therefore, they attribute their ineffectiveness and inability to military actions. Instead of solving problems, they put them off until later,” Mr. Ryabtsev emphasized.
Ukraine will not benefit from falling oil prices due to government incompetence, experts say.