18:45 21.05.2018

Abolition of moratorium on land sale extremely important for issue of loans to Ukraine – World Bank

2 min read
Abolition of moratorium on land sale extremely important for issue of loans to Ukraine – World Bank

The opening of the land market remains one of the priority reforms in Ukraine, the expert of the World Bank, the head of the Ukraine Transparent Land Resources Management Support program, Denys Nizalov, has stated.

"The abolition of the moratorium [on the sale of land] is extremely important both in terms of attracting private investment and in terms of issuing loans to the government of Ukraine," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

Concerning private loans, according to Nizalov, there is uncertainty in the rules of the game in the land market, which prevents investment, in particular, in irrigation, processing, storage of agricultural products, livestock, horticulture and other branches of agriculture with a high added value, stimulating GDP growth and improving the trade balance of Ukraine.

The expert stressed the consent of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the summer of 2017 to postpone the requirement to adopt the law on the circulation of land does not mean its abolition. This requirement also remains among the conditions of other international financing programs.

Nizalov said World Bank experts do not see any resistance to the opening of the land market on the part of farmers, whereas the Ukrainian Agrarian Council reported that the majority of agrarians are "against."

"Our experts travel a lot to the regions, meet with farmers and local authorities. I do not see any resistance to the opening of the market. Everyone understands that sooner or later the market will open. There are objective concerns: small farmers will not have access to financing or will not be able to protect their rights. But these questions have answers. The rights protection system is being actively improved," he explained.

In addition, according to Nizalov, many small farmers are already working on their own land, which they received back in the 1990s and these risks do not concern them.

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