Rule of Law instead of Rule of Figures?

On 6 November 2015 theIV International Central and Eastern European Investment Conferencewas staged in Kiev. The venue has been held by the CFA Society Ukraine. High caliber speakers from the region discussed recent insights of Ukraine’s perception by investors, bankers and officials. State policy, as well as the geopolitical situation and recent achievements, were touched upon from different practical perspectives.

Overall, foreign investors prefer a “wait and see attitude”, with Ukraine considered a high-risk, unsafe jurisdiction. As one of the speakers noted, economic and financial forecasts are not sufficient when rule of law is not followed in the country.

Aivaras Abromavicius, the Economics Minister of Ukraine, called the macroeconomic stabilization as obviously the main achievement last year. He paid attention on the recent improvement in Ukraine’s position in doing business rankings and noted that the goal of his team is to be ranked among the Top-50 countries next year. Among the recent activities for creating investors support are bilateral investment forums that take place almost every week.

Among the top priorities, according to the Minister, is to proceed with policies regarding deregulation, privatization and fighting corruption. He stressed that the latter is the key for improving the investment climate and returning to economic growth. Deregulation means the return of millions of hryvnyas into the business sector. One of the main reforms for fighting corruption named by Mr. Abromaviciuswas reform of public procurement. He informed that by the system would work in an electronic format by 2016. Next year should be a year of providing instruments for long-term economic growth, according to the Minister. Tools like the launch of an export credit agency and trade representative to facilitate export would be vital for this, he stressed.