Mediaboss Marketing

Ukraines cabinet has won plaudits for overhauling the energy and banking industries, even as a three-year conflict with Russian-backed insurgents persists.

Ukrainemust build on a period ofrelativepolitical calm in which its succeeded in reforming parts of its ex-Soviet economy and returning it to growth, according to the World Bank.

To win further aid, the government must push ahead with revamps of land sales, the pension system and health care, said Satu Kahkonen, the lenders director forUkraine, Belarus and Moldova.The bank,which has invested more than $10 billion inthe country, stands ready to help implement Ukraines plans, she said.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroismans team arrived in a 2016reshuffle following the resignation of several reformist officials angry that graft wasnt beingtackled. Since then, the cabinet has won plaudits for overhauling the energy and banking industries, even as a three-year conflict with Russian-backed insurgents persists. But the ruling coalition only has a slim majority in parliament and a $17.5 billion bailout loan has suffered repeated delays.

We are very pleased with the progress that the government has made in the past year -- they have taken a lot of very important reforms and moved the country forward, Kahkonen said. We hope that political stability would continue so further reforms can be taken and the position of Ukraine can be solidified.

The latest setback to Ukraines loan from the International Monetary Fund was confirmed last week. Hroisman said in an interview that the fifth tranche of the program, amounting to $1.9 billion, wont arrive until at least autumn, rather than the summer as originally planned.

One lesson that we have learned from our prior engagement is that it is important to be flexible,Kahkonen said. If those big policy reforms move, we would step in to support their implementation with investments.

Overhauls of the retirement system and the sale of agricultural land are currently a focus of the government. Parliament may vote on Thursday on a proposal to raise the qualifying period of employment for state-pension eligibility by 10 years. While the reform wouldnt change existing retirement ages of 58 for women and 60 for men, legislation passed in 2011 would bring the two into line.

Get the latest on global politics in your inbox, every day.

Get our newsletter daily.

The present system, whose deficit stands at $5.5 billion, is a major fiscal risk, a risk for social sustainability and social peace at the moment, given that 70 percent of pensioners require minimum subsistence support,Kahkonen said. She also urged the government to lift a moratorium on agricultural land sales in January, a step thats aimed at boosting farming, saying the World Bank may consider some financing projects such as irrigation.

That could jumpstart a flagging economic, which has lost steam because of a trade embargo with the rebel-held east. While gross domestic product resumed its expansion last year, growth remains very modest and will probably slow to 2 percent in 2017, about half the economys potential, Kahkonen said.

Original post:
Political Calm Key to World Bank as Ukraine Pushes Reforms ... - Bloomberg