22 February 2009

Ukraine cannot afford to default

Many European banks will be hit hard if Ukraine defaults as a country.
The Austrian banks have a significant level of exposure in Ukraine so do the Hungarians and Germans and many others.

Times of recession bring people back down to reality. But I still think we have a long way to go in Kyiv. Anyone visiting a shop, bar, restaurant or cafe in Kyiv city centre will see that prices are still very high when compared to other European cities. Many visitors still find this hard to understand about Ukraine.

Property prices have now reduced. Although the evidence is weak as very few transactions are taking place. Many people have lost jobs and companies are going to the wall in Ukraine, but the ones that survive still hold onto a unique system that is only practiced in former soveit states.
That practice is; they just DO NOT PAY STAFF.
Ukrainian employees will continue to turn up for work everyday knowing they will not get paid and living in the hope that they will get paid 'one day'. The mentality is that its better to have a job than no job. I still find this hard to understand and smile when I think about what would happen if you told your employees in the UK that they can continue working without pay!!!!

Lets see what happens in the country this week.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, it's a gift of gab, I guess. Richard Branson used it in "Virgin's" early days and his stuff worked for free. It's not the same case though, but a good UK example :\