'..cutting government spending to 34 percent of gross domestic product from 53 percent, which would entail eliminating energy subsidies that amount to 10 percent of GDP, and reducing senior public servants' retirement benefits, equal to 4 percent of GDP .. Ukraine has too many ministries and agencies.'<blockquote>'..one of three scenarios could unfold: Quick and painful economic and regulatory surgery, a slide into Russia's suffocating embrace, or chaos, as gangs of former volunteer fighters from the eastern war go on the rampage.
The window of opportunity for Ukraine to seize the first -- and best -- option is rapidly closing, but politicians squabbling over portfolios and bureaucrats who perpetuate the old corrupt system seem oblivious to the urgency. To a handful of outsiders who are pushing for rapid change, failure to act would be a tragedy.
..
The advisory group laid out its agenda in a recent
article in the English-language Kiev Post. It includes cutting government spending to 34 percent of gross domestic product from 53 percent, which would entail eliminating energy subsidies that amount to 10 percent of GDP, and reducing senior public servants' retirement benefits, equal to 4 percent of GDP. Bendukidze isn't optimistic that could happen.
"I tell people in the government about eliminating the energy subsidies, but I hear back that the people won't be happy," he says.
Bendukidze is an advocate of radical deregulation, and believes Ukraine has too many ministries and agencies.
..
As bureaucrats keep stealing and politicians keep stalling, the specter of financial collapse hovers closer..'
- Leonid Bershidsky,
Ukraine's Last Chance, October 30, 2014</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
Recommendations for immediate policy actions to address financial crisis in Ukraine, October 26, 2014
'There is no more tolerance for corruption in Ukrainian society, if it is not dealt with very soon, there will be another revolution.'</blockquote>