The “Lanos” and the financial crisis: what do Ukrainians remember about 1998

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In 1998, Ukrainians faced the international financial crisis for the first time, but not for the last time. Also this year, the country would get its own car brand, which will become one of the most popular for many years.

We tell about it in the new issue of the documentary series “30 years of Independence” on the UA TV channel.

So, 1998 is the year of birth of one of the most famous cars in Ukraine. The Lanos by the Zaporizhzhya Automobile Plant has conquered Ukrainian roads and the hearts of motorists. It will be loved and hated. There will be legends and anecdotes about Lanos. The car has become one of the symbols of modern Ukrainian automobile history.

At first, the Lanos model was assembled under the supervision of Koreans, and only from their components, and not in Zaporizhzhya, but near Odessa. Then they even joked that assembling a car in Ukraine is just adding the wheels to the body. And only by 2004 production will be fully established in Zaporizhzhya.

Huge queues at the exchangers are a common picture for 1998. If the first half of the year was stable, by the end of the year the dollar jumped almost twice.

Following the dollar, products, and especially imported ones became much more expensive. Price tags would change several times a day.

There were huge delays in the payment of salaries and pensions, especially to state employees. Here and there people went to rallies and went on strike.

The business did not pay taxes, and the treasury was empty.

“We understood that if 30% of tax debtors pay to the budget, we will immediately eliminate the arrears of pensions and salaries” – said Valerii Pustovoitenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine (1997-1999).

The problem with tax debts was solved out of the ordinary. Entrepreneurs were gathered for a congress in Kyiv and forced to sign receipts with debt repayment terms.

The crisis has also led to problems in the utilities sector. This was especially noticeable when cold weather came. The heating was usually absent even in the capital – they were saving gas.

In addition, in 1998 there a considerable miners’ strike was held across the country.