KIEV, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine is facing default if the country's parliament fails to approve unpopular anti-crisis measures proposed by the government, Ukraine's interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Thursday.
"These decisions need to be approved, otherwise Ukraine will become bankrupt," Yatsenyuk said in his address to the parliament on the economy which has slowed because of the deepening political crisis following the ouster of the Ukrainian president.
The International Monetary Fund announced Thursday it had reached a tentative agreement to loan Ukraine up to $18 billion in a bid to save the country's shattered economy.
Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz said earlier the country will increase the price of natural gas for domestic consumers by 50 percent as a precondition for the issue of the IMF loan.
Yatsenyuk confirmed Thursday forecast that Ukraine's GDP will shrink 3 percent this year, while predicting a 10 percent collapse in GDP unless the parliament supports the unpopular move.
