When Volodymyr Zelensky came into office in spring 2019, he promised to improve courts, reduce taxes, help business and enhance Ukraine’s investment attractiveness.
Just over a year later, the situation is complicated. Yes, there are positive developments.
The Ukrainian parliament has passed a law outlawing the return of nationalized banks to their former owners.
Ukraine has lifted the long-standing moratorium on farmland sales, which, in turn, cleared the way for $5 billion of aid from the International Monetary Fund.
The national currency, the hryvnia, has strengthened a bit, while Ukraine now ranks 70th in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking.
And Zelensky has demonstrated passion for luring more foreign investors to Ukraine. He has proposed a so-called “investment nanny” program. Despite the silly name, its aim is positive: to make investors feel safe putting their money into Ukraine.
But there are problems.
Zelensky dissolved parliament and appointed a new prime minister and government after the previous Cabinet had been in office for just six months. More recently, Yakiv Smolii, the National Bank of Ukraine governor, resigned, complaining that he had come under systematic “political pressure.”
And then there’s the global coronavirus pandemic. Since emerging in China in November 2019, the dangerous virus has spread globally, killing people and felling economies while disrupting globalization.
In March, Ukraine imposed a strict lockdown to prevent the spread of the disease, a timely and effective response. Still, more than 500,000 Ukrainians have lost their jobs officially as Ukraine joins the rest of the world in recession.
In our 6th annual Doing Business guide, we find optimism by looking at the cutting edge of Ukrainian business and the ways that government is trying to help. We look at an issue that will only grow more important: ESG, or environmental, social and corporate governance.
We remain confident that, despite all the challenges, the ingenuity of Ukrainian entrepreneurs featured in this magazine will help this nation build, innovate and develop.
