Neutralize
corruption, get rid of administrative pressure on business, guarantee
transparent and clear rules – and money will flow into the country.
I
strongly disagree with the opinion that the crisis period is a bad
time for investments. In 2008-2009, when had I just started investing
in the city of Kharkiv to make it a recipient city for the Euro 2012,
many were wondering why I did it, as the economic situation in the
country was not favorable for major capital investments.
But it was
precisely this step that allowed me to realize unique projects and
create additional employment opportunities. Not to mention that now,
thanks to this investment, Kharkiv has new infrastructure that
continues to function for the local community and business circles
even long after the end of the championship.
Today’s
crisis in Ukraine’s economy can also be seen as a challenge, which
could be adequately resolved by systemic well-structured business.
However, to realize the given investment potential, corresponding
conditions are necessary.
Without a stable fiscal policy, a recovery
of the banking system and quick, effective economic reforms, the
state will not have a ground for generating strong and sound
development. Let’s be frank, economic progress in Ukraine has been
absent for years, even decades. We are trying to achieve new results
using the same old instruments.
The Ukrainian economy urgently needs
new additives – new active assets, new businesses, new people. And
ideally it would be necessary to add a multiplier to this equation in
the form of systemic reforms. Then it will be possible to discuss
seminal results. Otherwise, the investor only acknowledges risks that
could not be overcome without responsible policies.
And
what do we have at the current moment? Looking at the processes from
the position of international donors’ requirements, one can see
that the authorities incurred obligations to pass a balanced budget –
with adequate deficit readings, with a safe state equity drawdown,
with the reinforcement of reforms and by the optimization of state
expenditures. The country’s leaders understand the necessity of
making difficult political decisions for an economic breakthrough,
but in reality, many changes are only nominal.
It
is not for nothing that national debts are involved here. This issue
is critical not only for foreign donors but also for commercial
investors. I will not mention the liabilities to businesses or to the
private-state partnership projects, which from year to year are
weighing upon the economy of holding companies and corporations.
The
problem is that major investments presuppose long pay-off periods.
And when the people in charge of the country’s economy are planning
only weeks ahead, at best, no investor ventures to bring serious
funds into the national economy. And we desperately need exactly such
“long-term” capital formations to restore the financial system,
to adapt to new realities in energy, and to enter the promising
markets.
The
challenge for international sponsors is clear: to contribute to
effective capital mobilization in Ukraine’s economy. For our part,
this process should include a search for alternative instruments of
the capital market, a struggle for the upsurge of these instruments’
liquidity, new perspective of the regulatory agencies’ functioning,
legislative statutory body, etc. Only then can we activate the local
sources of internal financing and reduce the reliance of our economy
on external funds.
