Chairperson of the Aspen Institute Kyiv Supervisory Board Natalie Jaresko: “ We will need to rebuild Ukraine with a view of where we are today, not what was there before”
Natalie Jaresko is the Chairperson of the Aspen Institute Kyiv Supervisory Board and Minister of Finance of Ukraine (2014 — 2016). Natalie took part in the joint Aspen Institute Kyiv and Aspen Institute Germany Ukrainian Dialogue event. She noted some reasons for Ukraine’s economic resistance and explained why it is important to talk about renewing Ukraine, not rebuilding it.
“A lot of the completed work in the last 8 years that you saw is critical to the strength that you see today”
Russia is making a full suffocation strangulation attempt to kill the economy of Ukraine. At the same time the Ukrainian economy has been more resilient than anyone could have expected. Natalie Jaresko noted some factors that contributed to this.
Firstly, Natalie mentioned a Ukrainian app called Diya. No matter where its users are, Diya helps Ukrainians to have access to their legal documents, to government support, to small and medium size loans.
Ms. Jaresko also underlined the importance of the bank system remaining open. Banks were shutting down their doors when Ukraine was attacked by Russia in 2014. Now the regulation of the Central Bank of Ukraine has been substantial. The banks continue to function.
Natalie also spoke about the role of decentralization reform in Ukraine’s resilience. Ukraine decentralized its finances and budgetary processes back in 2015.
— The decentralization developed a very self-serving and entrepreneurial factor to governance, the business community, to local communities and local governments. No one is waiting for Kyiv to come down and tell them what to do. Every community, oblast, governor, mayor are taking responsibility and action. A lot of the completed work in the last 8 years that you saw is critical to the strength that you see today in this fight and battle why Ukraine will be able to win.
Ms. Jaresko noted that with all of this set and done, the government is suffering from a substantial budget deficit. It’s somewhere between 5 and 7 billion dollars per month and this is just to provide basic social necessities. So, there are 3 ways to help Ukraine prevail: provide military support, financial aid and isolate the Russian economy.
The cost of the damage is one matter. The cost of renewing and revitalizing is quite different
Ukraine needs to prevail. After this, it’s important for the country to recover. Rebuilding issues are discussed actively now. For example, the Lugano conference, which is positioned as a first step towards Ukraine’s recovery, took place in the beginning of July.
As an expert Natalie Jaresko raised this question during the Ukrainian Dialogue event with Aspen Institute Germany. She thinks that it’s important to speak about renewing Ukraine, not rebuilding.
— I don’t like to use the word rebuild because it makes it sound as though we will put back exactly what was there beforehand. We may wish to do this with the Mariupol Drama Theatre which has historical and cultural significance but we may not wish to rebuild the old soviet khrushchevki that existed beforehand and which has since been bombed out of existence. Let this remain as dust so a new vision of Ukraine can be built.
Natalie explained that the cost of the damage is one matter. The cost of renewing and revitalizing is quite different.
— We will not be building roads today that don’t have electric vehicle connections all across them. For many Ukrainians, you know, bicycle paths are critically important. We will need to rebuild with a view to who we are as a people and where we are today in the 21st Century, not what was there before. Therefore, I think it’s very hard to distinguish between the cost of the damage and the cost of renewing.
