Will Ukraine's Newly Created Land Market Finally Unlock IMF Support?

This week the Ukrainian Parliament managed to deliver on one of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s greatest pre-election promises – to open up the land market. The moratorium had been in place since 2001 and not even the coronavirus outbreak prevented the MPs from passing the law this time.

Ukraine’s economy was in a bad shape even before being hit by the virus and the Servant of the People had little choice but meet one of the IMF’s key requirements for the next tranche of the loan to be released. Another prerequisite is the so-called “Kolomoisky” bill set to prevent former owners from assuming control over nationalized assets, such as the biggest Ukrainian bank PrivatBank. March 30 saw parliamentarians approve it on the first reading despite some alleged pressure from the oligarch. The second reading is expected next week.

This Weekly Wrap-Up will feature Deputy Economy Minister Taras Vysotskyi, Dragon Capital’s Sergey Fursa, as well as the Kyiv-based writer Yuri Polakiwsky who will comment on the new government’s endeavors in containing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Ukraine.