Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko is convinced that payment of money compensations to the residents of six regions, who suffered from floods, will not cause inflation upturn, the presidential press service reported.

Yuschenko made a statement to this effect while staying in Ivano-Frankivsk region on August 3.

"We should not be afraid of that. This is real, just money due to come to people," the press service quoted the President as saying.

Yuschenko emphasized once again that the budget policy miscounts made by the Cabinet of Ministers in January - June caused a serious inflation raise.

"The government that will learn not to boost inflation would be the one to bring development to this country," the President said.

In Yuschenko's opinion, foe No. 1 of any authority is inflation.

As Ukrainian News reported, the Cabinet of Ministers increased the size of initial monetary assistance to be paid to victims of the recent floods in western Ukraine.

Advance payment to the first category of flood victims (those whose homes were completely destroyed and those whose agricultural land was flooded) would be UAH 50,000, advance payment to the second category (those whose homes require major repairs) would be UAH 15,000, and advance payment to the third category (those whose homes suffered insignificant damage) would be UAH 5,000.

The amendments that the parliament adopted to the 2008 state budget on July 31 allocate UAH 2.32 billion for paying subventions to the regions affected by the floods, UAH 1.6 billion for transfer into the Reserve Fund, and UAH 1 billion for transfer to the Agrarian Fund.