Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko’s budget proposal for

2015 was greeted with protests today as demonstrators appealed for the

government to reduce the burden of war in the east and the hryvnia’s devaluation

on taxpayers.

Around 500 demonstrators took to the streets outside parliament brandishing fake Hr 500 notes with images of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on them as they urged the government to address inflation and focus its efforts on legalizing Ukaine’s sizable shadow economy, potentially worth billions of dollars in untaxed payments.