If Ukraine cannot find funds for budget, it will have to print money, which will lead to inflation - Zhevago

He said this on Espreso TV.

"If we don't find appropriate sources of funding for the state budget today, believe me, we will have to print money, as we did at the beginning of the war, and this will bring inflation back into the system, which means that the national currency will return with an increase in the exchange rate against all other world currencies to which we have these quotes today," said businessman Kostyantyn Zhevago.

Zhevago emphasized that this is a huge problem that should have been thought about from the first day of this year.

"Unfortunately, not everyone in our country understands how important the national economy is, which makes us self-sufficient people and a nation that can survive at all. Today, we have a lot of government officials, the establishment, who say that we don't need these Ukrainian enterprises and companies, we get money from foreigners, from the US government, from European countries, we will get money from there and as much as we need. This is no longer true," the investor explains.

He recalled that back on November 15, everyone hoped that there would be money, but today we realize that there is no money.

"And when I look at the way the National Bank of Ukraine or the regulator behaves when it closes financial and insurance companies and destroys jobs: some 300, 400 people, and this is all taxes, personal income tax, economic activity, which is the state's GDP, this is what makes us self-sufficient. All together, we have closed at least 10,000 jobs, which means a billion hryvnias in taxes. It is this billion that is not enough to cover the shortfall in funding from the West, the United States, or the European community," Zhevago summarized.

• On November 16, the US Senate passed a bill to temporarily fund the government until January 19, 2024, without funding to support Ukraine and Israel.
• On December 7, the US Senate failed a procedural vote to begin work on legislation to provide emergency aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan worth USD 106 billion.
• Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said that Kyiv may have to delay salaries for 500,000 civil servants and 1.4 million teachers, as well as payments to 10 million pensioners if Western aid does not arrive.

*He is a relative of the ultimate beneficial owner of Espreso TV channel.