In 2008 there was a global financial crisis, due to which in Ukraine in particular cut jobs and recorded rising prices. Also during this period, the Ukrainian Wikipedia was actively supplemented with articles of a nationalist nature. And in 2008, Paul McCartney visited Kyiv, and the legendary band Queen performed in Kharkiv.
We tell about it in the new issue of the documentary series “30 years of Independence” on the UA TV channel.
The USSR Savings Book is a bank account of that time, on which savings were kept “for a rainy day”. But just in difficult transitional times, accumulation became inaccessible.
In 2008, Prime Minister Tymoshenko decided to pay UAH 6 Billion of 130 billion in debt on contributions. It will not be enough for everyone, so it is given UAH 1,000 per person. The payment was called “Yulya’s thousand”.
At that time, the situation in Ukraine was unique. The hryvnia has been strengthening so long and confidently (the exchange rate is one to five in a few years) that people refuse to take the equivalent of “Yulya’s thousand” in dollars. Although the banks offer “green”. The branches simply do not have enough national currency to distribute to everyone.
“Imagine that you now have a deposit in UAH equivalent to USD 1,000 in a Ukrainian bank, this bank goes bankrupt and you do not receive a deposit back. And in 10 years some populists are elected to parliament and say: let’s list from any coefficients so that it was pleasant to you, dear voters. And suddenly you see that you have been transferred this contribution and you have there – USD 100,000. Of course, you like it, but in general – the state has nowhere to get money” – economist Mykhailo Kukhar says.
In 2012, a thousand will be half cheaper than in 2008. Anyone who did not take a thousand dollars then – will soon regret it. Ukraine, following the world, is entering a global financial crisis.
The symbol of the global crisis of 2008 is a box of belongings. Employees of one of the largest banks in the United States, Lehman Brothers, who were stunned by the unexpected reduction, came out. The essence of the crisis – banks have issued too many unsecured mortgages. When it became clear that many would not pay, bankruptcies began.
All the world and Ukraine watched it on TV, not yet realizing that it would soon “hit” everyone.
“The crisis of 2007-2009 is a global crisis. It happens every 70-100 years” – says Oleksandr Okhrimenko, economist and president of the Ukrainian Analytical Center.
The US government is rescuing the situation and issuing trillions of dollars in stabilization loans to banks and funds. But the crisis wave is spreading around the world, Europe, Asia, all countries and Ukraine in particular are suffering.
The crisis will hit Ukraine in the autumn. People are laid off at work, salaries do not keep up with prices. Trade unions take people to rallies. The inflow of currency into the country is reduced for several times.
At the beginning of 2008, the work of the parliament was blocked for two months. The stumbling block was the so-called “letter of three”. In it, President Yushchenko, Prime Minister Tymoshenko and Speaker Yatsenyuk ask NATO to provide Ukraine with an action plan to join the Alliance.