More Ukrainians opposed to IMF loan than in support

About 46% of Ukrainians believe it’s better to avoid
engaging in a new loan program with the IMF, while about 32% support it,
according to poll results published on Apr. 14. Only 26% of the public supports
parliament’s decision to approve the launch of the farmland market, compared to
60% opposed. The poll was conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of
Sociology between Apr. 7 and 11 among 2,000 respondents.

Zenon Zawada: While it
was long established that the public opposes the launch of the farmland market,
its opposition to the IMF loan tranche is a distressing signal indicating
increasing weariness of Euro-Atlantic integration overall. It’s no coincidence
that these two measures – a new IMF loan program and the farmland market – are
under constant criticism by Russian-oriented television and YouTube news
channels that have proliferated in just the last two years. These mass media
are clearly influencing the public, which has been highly misinformed and
doesn’t understand that an IMF loan is Ukraine’s only hope for economic
stability.

Also influencing public opinion is Ihor Kolomoisky,
the reckless billionaire actively trying to undermine the Ukrainian
government’s attempt to rescue its economy with an IMF loan program. Not only
does he control mass media outlets (especially the widely watched 1+1 news
channel), but he also has numerous loyal groups in parliament (the Fatherland
faction led by Yulia Tymoshenko, the For the Future group of MPs and the
Dubinsky group in the People’s Servant party). Kolomoisky wants Ukraine to
abandon IMF cooperation altogether and default on its international loans.

These developments are part of an overall trend in
the rising influence of Russian-oriented forces in Ukraine. Securing the IMF
loan program will be the best defense from Ukraine’s creeping slide back
towards Russia. Failing to secure it will throw the floodgates open.