This review was prepared with the support of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) within the Trade and Investment USAID | TIBA.
The authors analyse the new economic situation in Ukraine which is determined by a complex interplay of both external and domestic factors. It is argued that new challenges – most of which have been previously latent and frequently not really perceived as challenges – require appropriate policy responses.
Іn the following ten chapters authors move from the general to the specific, beginning with macroeconomic policies, social policy, fiscal federalism and investment policy, and moving to more specific policies in the areas of private insurance, lending, agriculture, utilities and energy.
This book is the very latest of a long-standing series of similar publications by the German Advisory Group on Economic Reforms with the Ukrainian Government and the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) in Kyiv. It incorporates the proceedings of an international conference1 and recent related empirical analysis produced at the IER.
Recently, Ukraine’s President signed an agreement on the formation of a Single Economic Space (SES) between Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. This agreement foresees implementation of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and eventually transformation towards a Customs Union (CU). We first discuss the corresponding legal aspects and stress the contradiction with Ukraine’s standstill commitment in the ongoing negotiations on World Trade Organization (WTO) accession.
East and West options exist. North and South cannot be primary geopolitical orientations. They can be a useful complement to the European choice of Ukraine. Choosing the right option and transforming it into reality is a vital question for Ukraine.