A rust-belt Soviet past, a geography that makes transporting goods expensive and the ongoing conflict with Russia are all hampering eastern Ukraine’s efforts to attract FDI. But cities such as Dnipro and Zaporizhia are committed to dispelling the old perceptions and attracting foreign investment to this resource-rich region, as Yuri Bender reports.
For Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, life goes on despite its proximity to the conflict in the country’s east. The city’s priorities include changing energy supply to save money, a move enabled by the government’s decentralisation drive. Mayor Ruslan Trebushkin tells Yuri Bender why budgetary importance is so important to the city.
Reform-minded Natalie Jaresko has had a tough baptism in her role as Ukraine's finance minister. However, she is determined to demonstrate the safety of the country's banking sector and show that Ukraine is still an attractive investment destination, as she tells Stefanie Linhardt.
For years, Austrian lenders Erste Bank and Raiffeisen Bank have enjoyed strong profits at their central and eastern European operations, but with growth in these economies slowing, more recent results suggest that they may need to rethink their strategies in the region.
Between a floundering economy and volatile political situation, there is little room for optimism in Ukraine. But with new leaders hoping to tackle corruption and consolidate the fragmented banking sector, and with international funds earmarked to boost commercial lending, is the tide about to turn?
Closer economic integration of countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States has been discussed for many years without practical progress. The launch of a Single Economic Space between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus may be about to change that.
Although not directly affected by the squeeze facing eurozone peripheral sovereigns and banks, central and eastern Europe is affected by its economic ties with the EU and the prevalence of western European banks in its markets. Philip Alexander hears from a range of European issuers outside the eurozone, including sovereigns, agencies, banks and corporates, on how the crisis has affected them.