Expert: Ukraine receives nearly no new investments
In 2018, Ukraine passed a law “On currency and currency operations” which enables the National Bank to simplify the conditions for foreign currency operations and the movement of capital, at its own discretion, which was not previously possible. However, the bank regulator is in no hurry: free movement of capital was sacrificed for the sake of inflation stability, instead of reviving lending. The restriction has been lifted only partially, and hardly any investments are being made in Ukraine, even when compared to 2004-2007, which were not particularly successful, or the stagnation of 2011-2013.
This observation was made by Maria Repko, deputy executive director of the Economic Strategy Center, in an article for Zerkalo Nedeli news outlet. According to her, the next step in this direction, opposing base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), is facing serious opposition from the large business owners represented in parliament. This is once again a question of the supremacy of law, she writes.
“Whether parliament’s new composition will bring about changes is a matter of billions – such amounts are taken offshore every year. The is cause for optimism on this issue: tax transparency and making it harder to work with tax havens is a powerful global trend. These trends are being lobbied at the highest levels in the world and are fully capable of getting around the interests of individual corrupt officials. For Ukraine over the next few years, the support of western partners is very important. The system can resist for a prolonged period, but at the end of the day it must come over to the civilized rules,” the expert emphasized.