Ukraine cannot stop halfway – Finance Minister

“There was military aggression, economic aggression, political turmoil after the revolution, and unstable commodity markets. All of this left the country in a very bad condition,” Danyliuk told the IMF press center.

“We have returned to growth because in the past three years we focused on reforms,” he said.

According to the minister, Ukraine is now at the mid-point of an IMF program and “the challenge is how to move forward.”

Read alsoPM Groysman upbeat about Ukraine's future economic growth, invites investorsDanyliuk stresses the fact that both the elites and Parliament feel that Russia’s economic pressure is significantly lower now.

“This makes it more difficult to forge ahead politically, but I remind my colleagues and the Parliament whenever it's possible that people don't feel the effects of reform yet,” he said.

The initial reason for this, Danyliuk says, is that incomes went down due to the economic decline and depreciation of national currency.

Read alsoWest needs to get real on Ukraine - media“Still we had to carry out unpopular reforms. For example, as a result of the energy sector reform, which included raising gas rates to market level, more than 50% of Ukrainians now receive subsidies. Knowing that more than half of the population cannot afford to pay for their utilities is quite depressing, but that's a reality,” the finance minister said.

Ukraine cannot stop the reforms now because “we cannot leave people in this condition”.

While the situation is getting better, it remains fragile, according to Danyliuk.

“The lesson I learned is that we cannot stop halfway,” said the finance minister. “We have to continue structural reforms so that our economy revives and the living standards rise as a result.”