Arbuzov Blames Ukrainians for Negative Trade Balance

This was stated by First Deputy Prime Minister Serhii Arbuzov on Ukraine TV channel.

"This year, I think we have done very well. The approximate amount of the deficit - is $ 4 billion. For example, during the currency rate panic when I worked at the National Bank, the population bought $ 4 billion - about the same amount. And then it stopped buying because they became confident that everything is in order. If people had not bought this $ 4 billion, then we would have a positive balance," said Arbuzov.

According to him, in 2013, the improvement of payment balance is expected.

"We expect a negative payment balance next year to be much lower than it was last year," said Arbuzov.

According to the State Statistics Service, the negative trade balance of Ukraine for the first 9 months of 2012 amounted to $ 6 billion 473.2 million, an increase of 1.6 times compared to $ 3 billion 982.9 million for the same period last year.