Jaresko was appointed finance minister on Dec. 2, 2014, and served her country for 17 months.
Although she was born in the United
States, anybody who knows her knows that Ukraine is her country. Following the
Revolution of Dignity, which drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power, Ukraine needed capable managers who could reverse the
damage that had been done to the country that had come about because of years
of pilfering, undermining of the rule of law and sabotage of international
reputation.
Jaresko stepped up and agreed to take on one of the most important
jobs in the country.
In the dark old days of Ukraine’s thoroughly corrupt past,
something that is not fully behind us of course, the Finance Ministry was the
most important ministry for one massive reason, it controlled all of the flows
of state funds. In those days, when every minister was simply a thief, deals
would be done about allocations of budget to each ministry, Jaresko knew that
to make the biggest impact on the cancer of corruption this was the branch of government that she needed to commit herself to running.
Under her watch, funds
would be dispersed based on the needs of the work of each ministry, not based
on personal favors, or kickbacks, or for any other reason. While there remains
a significant element of corruption, even still at the ministerial level, the
pressure that she must have come under is nearly impossible to imagine.
As well as juggling in the internal political circus,
Jaresko faced huge external challenges too.
Over the years Ukraine had borrowed
money, a lot of money, and at the same time had little hope of repaying that
money because the state of Ukraine had been left, some allege deliberately and
treasonably, on the verge of bankruptcy.
While the coupons and maturities of
these debts loomed, the day to day finances of Ukraine were bleak through a
nationwide practice of avoiding tax.
Not just a little bit of avoiding tax,
well in excess of 50 percent of Ukraine’s economy was in the shadows, unsurprising
considering the nation knew that paying tax to a bunch of thieves was folly.
So, manage the allocations from the budget to the ministries
fairly, work out something with the debts, and create a new tax system that
people would abide to. Where do you even begin to start to addresses such
challenges?
The allocations of budgets was helped, significantly, by the
fact that Jaresko was an outsider in terms of party politics in Ukraine,
therefore, she was not beholden to any of the clans or groups or political
associations and could act according to her judgment, rather than due to
pressure or influence or some kind of old favour needing to be repaid. She
could be, and was, an honest broker. Ukraine hasn’t seen one of those before.
To manage the debts and the tax structure required
superhuman effort, and to tackle these issues she created alliances that
brought a tremendous amount of support for Ukraine. Her relationship with
Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, was clearly warm and there was an
evident degree of mutual respect between these two women. The IMF provided not
just money (and withheld it, too, at appropriate times) but also crucial advice
and support. At this point Jaresko will probably say that her team were
fantastic too, I don’t doubt that, they were HER team.
The work of restructuring the debts had Jaresko pitched
against some of the fiercest negotiators and shrewdest people in the world, but
Jaresko managed to convince them that Ukraine’s future looked positive, and
instead of lending at a premium rate to a shaky country with a corrupt
leadership, the investors would be better served in the long term by taking a
haircut and exchanging that for a share of the upside of Ukraine’s future. The
investors bought it, because they were interested in the bottom line, and
because she was right.
When Ukraine needed a champion – someone with an infectious
enthusiasm for the country as well as someone who was capable of sitting with
world leaders, Jaresko was there.
Tirelessly, she campaigned for Ukraine in
Davos, in Washington, D.C., and most recently in the Netherlands.
In the countless
interviews she gave during her tenure she never wasted a word, everything she
said made the maximum use of every second of airtime she was given, no doubt
life in her ministry was the same as well, not a second could be wasted, there
were too many important tasks, no doubt at the top of the list was a simple
daily reminder, “save Ukraine,” and lines flowed down from there to endless
subtasks.
What did she leave behind for her $250 monthly ministerial
salary?
A company she had co-founded and built for many years. She sacrificed
time with family and friends. One would assume that the stress of reducing the
budget deficit from 11 percent of gross domestic product to just over 2 percent of GDP and turning an economic
contraction rate of 10 percent into a forecasted growth of 1 percent will have taken its toll
on her health, regardless of how much herbal tea those who were willing her to
succeed gave her.
After the revolution, the people who came to power came from
the Maidan.
Some people may not know that Jaresko was there too, and
people wouldn’t know this because she wasn’t a voice from the stage, she was in
the crowd, one of the millions who stood there over those three months, standing
out in the cold and proudly holding the blue-and-yellow flag of her country.
Some 10 months after the tragic end to the EuroMaidan Revolution, this Chicago-born
daughter of Ukrainian immigrants was appointed finance minister of her country,
one of the most important jobs in the land, and with that she took her place in
the history of Ukraine, by being the champion of the new Ukraine.
As for the future, maybe she might like to consider a career
in politics instead?
Maybe there is another historical chapter waiting to be
written?
We’ll understand if she decides not to head in that direction though. She
answered her call of duty already. The nation owes her an enormous debt of
gratitude.
