国际英语新闻：Ukraine's economy starts recovery: PM

KIEV, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Although Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) suffered a decline in 2009 compared with the previous year, the country's economy has touched the bottom and began bouncing back, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on Tuesday while summing up the government's main achievements in 2009.

    "The past year was extremely difficult for Ukraine, we needed to repay huge amounts of foreign credit borrowed by former governments. Ukraine was on the verge of bankruptcy." Tymoshenko told an annual yearend press conference in Kiev.

    "However, we have succeeded in making the national economy out of its predicament," added she.

 

Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko speaks during a news conference in Kiev December 29, 2009.

    Tymoshenko noted that Ukraine has harvested a total of about 48.5 million tons of grain in 2009, and become the world's third largest grain exporter.

    She also expressed satisfaction with the reforms in the fields of aviation, aircraft manufacturing, saying that her government took a series of measures to enable aircraft assembly plants to avoid closure and restore aircraft production.

    Meanwhile, she voiced hope that Ukraine would further strengthen cooperation with Russia and China in the field of aircraft manufacturing.

    She also pledged to keep gas prices unchanged next year for all consumers.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko speaks during a news conference in Kiev December 29, 2009.

Tymoshenko indicated that Ukraine's political chaos impeded her government from combating the global financial crisis efficiently, expecting that the country's political situation will be stable after a presidential poll scheduled in January.

    Ukraine, whose economy is highly dependent on foreign credit and export, was hard hit by the global economic downturn throughout 2009.

    According to a published report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World bank predicted that Ukraine's GDP could fall 14.0-15.0 percent in 2009.