The financial situation in Ukraine is absolutely stable and there is no threat of default in the country, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said at a final press conference entitled "The First Year of Government: A Turn Towards a New Quality of Life" on Friday.

He said that in forecasts made by international rating agencies, "we've already climbed three positions and continue rising, because the financial situation is absolutely stable."

During the first year of the new government's work, the country's foreign exchange reserves rose to USD 37 billion, which is a sign of the stability of the national currency, he said. "And now we can build reliable plans for years to come, without fearing that the hryvnia will collapse in future," Azarov said.

While summing up the results of the year, the prime minister noted that the average wage in the country had increased by UAH 440 per month (UAH 7.93 / USD 1), and the social spending of the budget had grown by UAH 40 billion over the year. "It's a little bit, but this figure corresponds to the level of our economy, which we currently reached," the prime minister said.

As UKRINFORM reported, according to a ranking compiled by experts from U.S. business news site Business Insider, Ukraine occupies 6th place among the 18 countries most likely to default. The reason for this is a large size of foreign debt and slow economic growth.

UKRINFORM