Ukraine to be able to catch up with Poland in 50 years – Finance Ministry

Ukrainian Finance Minister Oksana Markarova says that Ukraine will be able to catch up with Poland in 50 years if the Ukrainian economy develops at the current pace.

"And if Ukraine maintains the status quo such as it is now, it will need 50 years to catch up with Poland as it is today," she told Radio Liberty's Ukrainian service. "This, of course, is too long for us. And we have certain plans and recipes for how to accelerate the process."

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By 2014, Ukraine's economy already was in a bad shape, and then it was affected by Russian aggression, so the main task of the government was to stabilize it.

"That was done. Already 12 quarters in a row, the Ukrainian economy has been growing. If you look at the result we have achieved in the previous four years, of course, it is unusual, so to speak. And few people believed that we could so quickly stabilize the economy and return, one can say, to a stable growth. Inflation is below 10%. The gold reserves as of today are the highest in the last five years. If we talk about the macroeconomic situation, then it is fairly stable today," she said.

Earlier, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development indicated in its annual analysis that the Ukrainian economy was reviving and growing, but the authors also noted that the initiated positive reforms had not yet been brought to fruition. The EBRD said the growth indicators of the Ukrainian economy, which was 2.5-3.5% in recent years were positive but modest. Bank specialists believe that Ukraine, despite positive trends, will still need financial support from external donors and, in particular, the International Monetary Fund to ensure macroeconomic stability.