This review of competitiveness and private sector development in the Ukraine includes diagnosis and policy actions for policy makers and advisors, offering policy responses to underpin economic diversification, enhanced competitiveness and private sector development.

Examines the key policies that would increase competitiveness in the countries of the region through developing human capital, improving access to finance for SMEs and creating more and better investment opportunities.

This paper discusses Ukraine’s 2013 Article IV Consultation and First Post-Program Monitoring. The Ukrainian economy has been in recession since mid-2012, and the outlook remains challenging. In January–September 2013, GDP contracted by 11⁄4 percent year-over-year, reflecting lower demand for Ukrainian exports and falling investments. Consumer prices stayed flat, held down by decreasing food prices and tight monetary policy. The fiscal stance loosened in 2012–2013, contributing to the buildup of vulnerabilities. Ukraine remains current on all its payments to the IMF, and the authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to repay all outstanding IMF credit.

This report is an assessment and strategy to help Kazakhstan enhance the competitiveness of non-energy sectors including agribusiness, fertilizers, logistics, business services and information technology.

The SME Policy Index is a benchmarking tool designed for emerging economies to assess SME policy frameworks and monitor progress in policy implementation over time.

This review addresses the territorial dimension of a range of policy challenges in the Ukraine, including governance, innovation, urban development and rural policy.

A sequel to the World Bank's 'World Development Report 2013: Jobs', this volume examines the experiences of seven countries drawn from four continents facing very different development challenges. The chapters illustrate how, in these diverse settings, job creation can drive progress and what policies can support this process.

Regulatory reforms in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood countries are not as sluggish as often perceived. Rule enforcement is happening despite the presence of domestic veto players who favour the status quo, the lack of EU membership perspective and the presence of Russia as an alternative governance provider. Using Ukraine as a primary case study, this book examines why convergence with transnational market rules varies across different policy sectors within the Eastern neighbourhood countries. It analyzes the drivers of regulatory change and explores the conditions under which post-Soviet economies integrate with international markets. In doing so, it argues that the impetus for regulatory change in the Eastern neighbourhood lies in specific strategies of domestic empowerment applied by external actors. Furthermore, through the study of the impact of Western and Russian transnational actors, the book concludes that Russia’s presence does not necessarily hinder the integration of the EU’s Eastern neighbours with international markets. Instead, Russia both weakens and strengthens domestic support for convergence with transnational market rules in the region. This book will be of key interest to students and scholars of European/EU studies and international relations, especially in the areas of regulatory politics, transnational governance, public policy, and post-Soviet transitions.

Poverty as Subsistence explores the "propertizing" land reform policy that the World Bank advocated throughout the transitioning countries of Eurasia, expecting poverty reduction to result from distributing property titles over agricultural land to local (rural) populations. China's early 1980s land reform offered support for this expectation, but while the spread of propertizing reform to post-communist Eurasia created numerous "subsistence" smallholders, it failed to stimulate entrepreneurship or market-based production among the rural poor. Varga argues that the World Bank advocated a simplified version of China's land reform that ignored a key element of successful reforms: the smallholders' immediate environment, the structure of actors and institutions determining whether smallholders survive and grow in their communities. With concrete insights from analysis of the land reform program throughout post-communist Eurasia and multisited fieldwork in Romania and Ukraine, this book details how and why land reform led to subsistence and the mechanisms underpinning informal commercialization.

This review of competitiveness and private sector development in the Ukraine includes diagnosis and policy actions for policy makers and advisors, offering policy responses to underpin economic diversification, enhanced competitiveness and private sector development.