Ukraine Parliament approves new PM in bid to end deadlock over reform

KIEV, April 14: Ukraine’s parliament approved presidential ally Volodymyr Groysman as prime minister on Thursday in the biggest political shakeup since a 2014 uprising brought in a pro-Western leadership.
President Petro Poroshenko hopes the appointment of the former parliamentary speaker will end months of political deadlock that has delayed billions of dollars in foreign loans needed to shore up Ukraine’s war-battered economy.
But the departure from the cabinet of experienced technocrats, including U.S.-born Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko, who led strategic talks with Western lenders and investors has rattled pro-European reformists. Some deputies said the new government would struggle to get laws approved.
Speaking ahead of the vote, Groysman, 38, said his government was committed to tackling Ukraine’s endemic corruption and strengthening ties with the European Union.
“I understand the threats that face us. In particular I would like to highlight three threats – corruption, ineffective governance and populism, which do not pose less of a threat than the enemy in eastern Ukraine,” he said, referring to the conflict with pro-Russian separatists.
A new government should allow talks to resume on the disbursement of a third tranche of loans from the International Monetary Fund worth $1.7 billion, delayed since October.
Ukrainian bonds firmed after the vote in parliament.
Groysman’s rebooted cabinet appears to strengthen the influence of Poroshenko in the government and on the economic side of policymaking in particular.
Oleksandr Danylyuk, 40, who is set to become finance minister, is the deputy head of Poroshenko’s administration, while the economy minister and first deputy prime minister positions will be given to Stepan Kubiv, who is currently the president’s representative in parliament.
They replace Yaresko, praised by Washington for her handling of Ukraine’s debt crisis, and Aivaras Abromavicius, who as economy minister spearheaded a drive to privatize graft-ridden state firms, but quit in protest over corruption in February.
Poroshenko, whose confectionary business Roshen has made him Ukraine’s sixth richest man, said the new government must honor reform commitments made under its $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.”-Reuters