It has been twenty five years since Ukraine regained its independence, and the transition to democracy, rule of law and a competitive market economy is still underway.
The last three years have seen more reform than the previous twenty, but much remains to be done to improve real wages, boost domestic and foreign investment, and enhance health and education services in Ukraine. Which reforms are key to the country's future? Is the reform process irreversible? What are the risks to reform, both domestically and internationally? On Friday, 24 February 2017, Natalie A. Jaresko answers all of these questions and more in the Fifteenth Annual Cambridge Stasiuk Lecture in Contemporary Ukrainian Studies.
Natalie A. Jaresko is the former Finance Minister of Ukraine (2014-2016); Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute Kyiv; Nonresident Distinguished Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; and member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Financial and Monetary Systems. The title of her presentation is 'Ukraine in Transition'. The event is free and open to the public, but online registration is required.
Ms Jaresko has enjoyed a distinguished international career in public service and private industry. As Ukraine’s Finance Minister (2014-16), she served at a particularly critical moment when the post-revolutionary state was rocked by deep recession and war on part of its territory. During her tenure she led the successful negotiation of the largest IMF program in the institution’s history as well as a complex debt restructuring. Her government’s success in restoring macroeconomic stability enabled the creation of a broad international financial coalition to support Ukraine’s transition. She led the reduction of public spending, cutting the deficit by more than 75% to 2.1% of GDP in 2015. She also advanced tax reform resulting in an almost 50% reduction in payroll tax, eliminated tax privileges which favored vested interests, implemented a transparent e-data system placing all treasury transactions online in real time, and initiated corporate governance reform in state-owned banks. Previously, she spent two decades working as co-founder and CEO of Horizon Capital, a fund with over $600 million under management, and as Western NIS Enterprise Fund President and CEO, creating a platform for private equity investment in the region. She began her career in public service in the United States, serving in the State Department from 1989-92 and as Economic Section Chief of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine from 1992-95.
Initiated in 2003, the Annual Stasiuk Lecture in Contemporary Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge explores the internal dynamics and international implications of events in today's Ukraine and features the foremost experts in the fields of Ukrainian politics, history, and society. It is organised by Cambridge Ukrainian Studies, an academic centre in the Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge.
