As of Jan. 1, 2020, wage arrears to Ukrainians has exceeded 3bln hryvnias. According to OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE MP Serhiy Lovochkin, the main reason behind the sharp increase of the indebtedness lies in government’s miscalculations (which also led to the manufacturing industry crisis and budget failure), with education sector suffering the most.

“The 15-percent increase in wage arrears over just one year is the fault of both governments, the one that resigned and the one that came to power. The first started the trend, and the second exacerbated it. Moreover, the industry with the worst situation, where debts grew immediately by 2.5 times, was education, which is directly overseen by the Cabinet of Ministers. The same applies to the sectors of scientific, professional, and technical activities, where the arrears have grown by one and a half times,” Lovochkin said.

According to the politician, wage arrears also increased significantly in export-oriented industries: by 53.1 percent in extractive sector, by 47.9 percent in metallurgy, and by 42.1 percent in agriculture. This happened against a drop of their incomes amid strengthening of hryvnia.

“The situation with debts to miners is also critical. The fact that despite all increases in the budget, which only happened after massive protests and pressure from the OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE, the arrears grew by 53 percent over the year, is a verdict to government’s inefficient policy in the sector,” he added.

“Unbalanced and unprofessional economic management results in failure to pay the people what they have earned. We are talking mainly about economically active enterprises, for which the growth rate of wage arrears is almost two times higher than economic average. And this is not to mention the continuing high unemployment. 3bln hryvnia of debts against the background of officials’ high and timely-paid incomes is a statement of the government’s inability to solve social and economic problems in a comprehensive manner. Therefore, the question of adding more professionals among those managing the economy should be raised in the near future,” the MP said.