Most of the money is intended to go to digital transition and infrastructure, but some will also help small and medium-sized companies.
The EU is ready to invest up to seven billion euros in Ukraine over the next seven years, writes Interfax Ukraine. The Deputy for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Katarina Maternova, said that the money would mainly go to digital transition and infrastructure upgrades.
“We will focus more on investing; we have a new investment support instrument – the de-risk instrument – a guarantee from the European Commission to our international financial institutions-partners to reduce risks for investments in our partner countries, including Ukraine: Our President has announced that we hope to mobilize up to EUR7 billion for investments in Ukraine for seven years,” Maternova told.
She said that some of the money would also go to help small and medium-sized companies, which need investments to grow their business.
“There is much more potential to conduct transparent privatization, which will bring knowledge and know-how, new business practices, and opportunities to be part of the European production chain. And one of the areas where we just need to do better is public administration, corporate governance, justice, business environment predictability.”
Reforms will need to continue
Previously, Maternova also told Interfax Ukraine that it is vital that Ukraine continues with market reforms to kickstart the economy. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was elected back in 2019 on the promise of reforming Ukraine. Since then, Ukraine has passed reforms such as the landreform, which opened up for sale of agricultural land, and parliament passed a long-awaited bank law.
However, since 2020, some have criticized Zelensky and his administration for centralizing power and turning away from the promised reform agenda. Maternova told Interfax Ukraine that it is crucial to get back on track.
“Reforms must continue because if you stop in the middle of the road, you will roll back. It is important to continue reforms! But it must also be stated that there is undeniable progress, particularly in the fight against corruption,” Maternova said.
“There is much more potential to conduct transparent privatization, which will bring knowledge and know-how, new business practices, and opportunities to be part of the European production chain. And one of the areas where we just need to do better is public administration—corporate governance, justice, business environment predictability. Again, there have been improvements, but I don’t think Ukraine is there – we will have to work to change investor sentiment and attract investment,” she said.
