funny numbers

ukraine will be a great place in 2010, as prime minister yulia tymoshenko sees it. inflation will be tamed. the currency will be stronger…

[october 2009]

ukraine will be a great place in 2010, as prime minister yulia tymoshenko sees it. inflation will be tamed. the currency will be stronger. the budget deficit will shrink. the economy will be healthy.

and she will be president.

is she living in a dream world on the presidential part, the economic part, or about everything?

fantasy world, say her political rivals.

“i have never seen such a budget, one built on such a faulty and botched macroeconomic basis, and i hope i never do again,” oleksandr shlapak, a top aide for president victor yushchenko, told 5 kanal tv channel on sept. 16. “this is a budget of election promises, cunningness and cowardice, for which future generations of ukrainians will have to pay.”

the great thing about making predictions for 2010 is that no one can prove them wrong until the time comes. it’s all the more fortuitous in ukraine, which has no universally respected independent financial watchdog. that means all prognostications become grist for the pol…