Ukraine publishes guide for foreign investors

The Ukrainian government has published the
UkraineInvest Guide, its first investment guide for foreign investors that is
intended to serve as an analytical instrument offering information on current
investment projects, available resources and changes in regulatory policy, PM
Denys Shmyhal announced on his Facebook page on Sept. 23. The cabinet and
president’s office have selected 60 of the most attractive investment projects
for the guide, Shmyhal said. “The guide offers a full vision and an
understandable picture on how where and how to better invest in Ukraine. One
can find information on each branch of the Ukrainian economy, from agriculture
and energy, to infrastructure and IT. The UkraineInvest Guide is going to be
renewed every quarter so that investors are provided with the most relevant
information,” wrote Shmyhal, describing the guide as “the start of a big story
for popularizing Ukraine as a country attractive for investment.”

Ukrainian President Zelensky is not personally
involved in corruption but the lower ranks of state officials continue to
indulge in it, the pravda.com.ua news site reported on Sept. 23, citing a
former member of the president’s entourage. “Personally, Vova doesn’t steal.
That’s 100%. But a kind of decentralization of corruption has taken place. The
lower ranks have understood that ‘gains’ don’t have to be shared with the upper
ranks. And each person shaves entirely for himself. But with particular
enthusiasm and cynicism,” said the anonymous source, confirming a widely held
view in Kyiv. A major source of corruption has become Ukraine’s booming road
construction and repair industry, which has been taken over by a cartel of
three firms that offer kickbacks of about 20% in exchange for tender awards,
the report said.

Zenon Zawada: The
government can publish all the investment guides it wants, but it won’t make a
lick of difference if the Zelensky administration doesn’t pursue and support
large-scale, structural reforms, particularly in the courts and law enforcement
bodies. Moreover, we have long spoken about how major sectors of the economy
are opaque and closed to competition, which is confirmed by this latest report
about road construction tenders being controlled by a cartel, which in turn
offers kickbacks.

Not only is the Zelensky administration not
engaging in dramatic reforms, but it has raised the concern of Western leaders
in recent weeks that it is undermining those basic structural reforms that have
been achieved (by threatening the independence of the Specialized
Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office). Without functioning courts and police,
and without transparency and equal treatment by government, investment guides and
investment nannies won’t accomplish much of anything.