Economist Impact launches Ukraine Reform Tracker

Economist Impact, part of Economist Group, will present a tracker of reforms in the country at the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Lugano on Monday.

"Maintaining momentum in Ukraine's ambitious reform programme will be essential to the nation's recovery after the war. With the aim of stimulating and supporting discussion on this matter at the 2022 Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC), Economist Impact presents the Ukraine Reform Tracker," according to the materials distributed on the eve of the launch of the tracker.

According to them, Ukraine Reform Tracker analyzes the state of reforms in four key areas: economic reforms, environmental and energy reforms, social reforms and governance reforms (reflecting the key themes of URC 2022).

Economist Impact has produced a policy brief for each reform area, with an assessment of: 1) reform progress since 2014; 2) the resilience of reforms in 2022, in particular given the stresses of the ongoing war with Russia; and 3) the outlook for reform, with a focus on the role that reforms will play in facilitating Ukraine's recovery.

The actual presentation is scheduled for July 4 within the additional conference of the civil society event "Paving the Way to a Successful and Inclusive Recovery Process of Ukraine."

In the disseminated materials, Economist Impact, in particular, notes that the post-war moment will be an opportunity for Ukraine. With both domestic and international audiences committed to Ukraine's recovery and development, there will likely be significant pressure to continue and accelerate the implementation of the reform agenda, the experts said.

In the economic sphere, continued business reforms could allow Ukraine to continue deregulating, privatize unprofitable state-owned enterprises where necessary, and improve procurement processes, they said.

In addition, the liberalization of agriculture and the expansion of trade infrastructure, while maintaining the stability of the financial sector, will attract foreign investment and encourage domestic entrepreneurship, stimulating faster growth and increasing budget revenues while reducing spending.

Despite significant progress in improving the business environment in Ukraine, especially with regard to deregulation, creating the conditions for businesses to thrive will remain the key to improving the situation, Economist Impact believes.

"The post-war moment may present an opportunity to complete the difficult land reform by extending the right to purchase agricultural land to legal entities, including foreign ones (although the passing of such a law would only be possible after a referendum). Opening the path for international capital to flow into Ukrainian agriculture will likely boost productivity across the sector, increasing its competitiveness in the EU market. Turning once again into Europe's breadbasket also presents an unparalleled opportunity for the recovery of Ukraine's economy," the document says.

According to it, despite the short term impact on the budget, overall production and trade from the destruction or loss of many metallurgical and machine-building plants and mines in eastern Ukraine, in the longer term this provides an opportunity to refocus political efforts and investments in the Ukrainian economy.

The experts emphasized that ensuring constant stability and transparency of the financial sector is a prerequisite for the economic recovery of Ukraine.