Sweeping Reforms Redefine Ukraine
Land market and judicial reforms enacted alongside a privatization campaign are policies investors have long waited for
Ukraine’s new government is out to reset relations with investors. For too long, the Eastern European nation has been defined by a biased judiciary that has defended entrenched interests. But now a sweeping set of reforms led by President Zelensky will work to allay investors’ largest fears, forging a new business order in Ukraine.
The litmus test for the success of these reforms is the long-awaited opening of the land market. For 25 years, the development of a privatized land market has been put off, relegating Ukraine’s agricultural land to an atavistic Soviet system that still bars private ownership. Finally allowing land to move into private hands would simultaneously lift a moratorium on foreign investment into one of the world’s most fertile tracts of agricultural assets while setting a tempo for future reforms.
“Agricultural land is the country’s most valuable asset,” says Morgan Williams, President of the Us-ukraine Business Council, adding that “Ukraine is the only country with such strong land assets that still doesn’t have a land market.”
“Ukraine’s number one challenge is rule of law” ANDY HUNDER PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN UKRAINE
Ukraine watchers should be interested. Opening up agricultural land to private and foreign investment will unlock serious growth, boosting a sector that is already a major part of Ukraine’s economic backbone. “In Ukraine, agriculture is an important part of the economy, accounting for around 40% of our exports and posting double-digit growth year on year,” says Timofiy Mylovanov, Minister