Ukraine Economy Crisis

I'm still trying to gain a better understanding about what's going on in Ukraine, so I looked in to some of the most recent news about the country and found an article about Ukraine's economy. The article stated that Ukraine’s economy has contracted by a quarter due to the conflict in the south east of the country as hundreds of facilities are closed. The Prime Minister said that “We’ve lost a quarter of the Ukrainian economy. Hundreds of facilities were closed because of war...” This is so interesting to me becasue their economy literally is going down the drain because of all the conflicts that are going on. The article later sadi that at the same time the government managed to collect more in taxes than in the previous year, which is helping their economy in the slightest. The article continued by saying that although the Ukrainian government expects the international aid to help the country overcome the crisis in the short-term, experts suggest the terms of imposing austerity measures would only make the situation worse, as many Ukrainians already live below the poverty line and further cuts in social spending would bring no good. Ukraine’s GDP has shrunk 6.5 percent since the crisis started and the currency has lost around 80 percent of its value. Inflation is expected to hit 27 percent by the end of 2015.