OREANDA-NEWS. March 05, 2012. There are no economic grounds for the threat of default in Ukraine. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov said this during a lecture "How to ensure sustainable development in Ukraine" which he gave for high school students during a working trip to Zakarpatia.

"There is no threat of default and even the slightest hint of it" - Mykola Azarov said.

At the same time the PM stressed that price-cutting for Russian gas to economic levels will allow Ukraine to enter the foreign trade surplus. However, he once again reminded that Ukraine now receives gas for the highest prices in Europe.

Mykola Azarov noted that one of the main factors that form the negative foreign trade balance of Ukraine is an extremely high price of gas. "Our shortfall is determined primarily by high price of gas. If the price of gas is in two times lower we will have a positive balance of payments and our trade balance" - the Prime Minister said.

At the same time the Prime Minister said that there is no reason for the depreciation of the currency. "There is no reason for the devaluation of the hryvnia. We have enough foreign exchange reserves, the demand for currency balances by the supply. We have, in principle, normal value for our balance of payments. In other words we bring into the country more currency than take out" - Mykola Azarov said. He noted that these factors leveled by the negative cashflow of foreign trade balance.