TUESDAY 24TH MARCH 22.30 GMT - BBC TWO PRESENTED BY JEREMY PAXMAN From Paul Mason, who's on his "Euro-Crash" tour: "$16bn with the promise of double that to come. That is what is at stake in the stand-off between the IMF and the government of Ukraine. This country of 50m people, already a geo-political faultline and riven by ethnic unease, calmly took the IMF's promise of a bailout and then reneged on the strict conditions. Hence the bailout money is suspended and Ukraine is on the brink of bankruptcy. If you wanted to lend Ukraine £10m, you would have to take out insurance costing £5m upfront, that is how certain the markets are that it is on the road to default. Last week the government reversed its decision to impose a unilateral 13% import tax; but not on cars, which make up for 10% of its economy. So the stand off continues, and the Ukrainian people suffer. Many cannot even get their money out of their own bank accounts. Watch my report tonight and follow my progress through Latvia Ukraine and Slovakia on my blog. Also tonight: David Grossman on the difficulties for Gordon Brown caused by Mervyn King's cautious message on fiscal stimulus, Richard Watson on the Government's anti-terror strategy and Matthew Price on the Mexican border with the US on the drugs war. Join Jeremy at 10.30pm. Click here to watch the latest programme online |