Ukraine: Restoring Growth with Equity: A Participatory Country Economic Memorandum

The government deficits that have played such a prominent role in Ukraine's continued economic decline reflect in large measure the fact that government has been slow to relinquish the role it played during the Soviet era. Since independence, Ukraine has suffered one of the most severe economic declines of any country in this century. While other transition countries in the region successfully replaced their old command economies with market economies, Ukraine continued to protect unprofitable enterprises to preserve employment and income levels. To support this strategy, the government has borrowed more money than it takes in and, at the same time, competes with private enterprise domestically for credit. As Ukraine's economic foundations proceed to crumble, the Ukrainian Government. the World Bank, and the International Center for Policy Studies in Kyiv examined the issues surrounding the crisis. The group analyzed the data and policy studies that were prepared by various Ukrainian and World Bank teams of experts and formulated recommendations for strategies to stem the growing tidal wave of economic collapse now threatening Ukraine. This report presents the issues that are creating these crises and outlines a course to prevent a crash. This report will be of interest to government agencies, economists, bankers, and academics.