To stop the decrease of the industrial manufacturing in Ukraine, the acting government must not only be strengthened, but completely replaced. This was stated by OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE MP Serhiy Lovochkin, commenting on the State Statistics Service’s data on industrial production drop in January 2020.

The politician reminded that the manufacturing industry decreased by 1.8 percent in 2019. The slide began in June 2019 and has continued for eight months now, with the biggest losses incurred in fourth quarter of 2019.

“The government drew zero conclusions from disastrous results of the industry in Q4. This led to even faster decrease in January: 5.1 percent compared to January 2019, and 8.4 percent compared to December of last year. The talks of the needs to strengthen the Cabinet appeared only recently. But to stop the catastrophe, the ‘strengthening’ is no longer enough; the government needs to be replaced. The economy should be managed by experts with real experience,” the MP said.

Lovochkin believes that the deindustrialization problem cannot be solved by HR decisions alone.

“The manufacturing industry can be saved only with a new economic agenda. All leading countries of the world subordinate their politics to their economy, and Ukraine must follow their lead. Deindustrialization can be reverted if the state supports the manufacturing industry. And it’s not only about budget programs, but also about political decisions, like fighting for new markets, returning to lost markets of CIS countries, and restoring some technology links in the manufacturing production,” Lovochkin said.

The MP reminded that comprehensive program on saving the industry has been included in draft bills proposed to the parliament by OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE.

“Ukraine needs a government that will be able to implement the program. This Cabinet will definitely enjoy our faction’s full support,” the politician said.

As reported, the State Statistics Service said two thirds of Ukrainian regions witnessed a drop in manufacturing industry in January 2020, including by 26 percent in the Luhansk region, by 13.8 percent in the Dnipropetrovsk region, by 10.1 percent in the Donetsk region, by 9.1 percent in the Kyiv region. All segments of industrial manufacturing have been affected, including mining industry (4.5-percent drop), refining sector (3.2-percent drop), energy and housing (11.8-percent decrease), machine building (10.5-percent drop), and metallurgy (10.3-percent decrease).