Business both optimistic, realistically on future of Ukraine’s economy - Pritzker

This was stated by the U.S. special representative for economic recovery of Ukraine, Penny Pritzker, who spoke at a briefing in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The special representative noted that she brought along on her visit representatives of the American private sector because they are confident in Ukraine’s economic stability, potential, and long-term prospects.

"I think the private sector is both optimistic and realistic about Ukraine's economic future. It's going to be hard, but their optimism is grounded in facts and what I've seen personally over the past several months. Despite Russia's war, Ukraine's GDP was up 5 % last year and up 4 .1 % the first half of this year," she said.

Pritzker emphasized that the attacks on Ukraine's energy sector are slowing the economy down but at the same time, investments have increased by 17%, tax revenues have surged by 25%, 37,000 new businesses were created last year, which is more than in 2021, and half of these businesses were created by women.

"It's time for us to focus on turning Ukraine's recovery vision into a reality. And that requires equipping Ukraine with a cross -ministerial planning support which is really a surge capacity of technical experts who can work alongside Ukrainians to facilitate a whole -of -government coordination and support development of a single prioritized project pipeline," the U.S. special representative said.

Pritzker believes that partners should focus on reforms that will lay the foundations for investment in Ukraine and its accession to the EU and NATO, and that they should also force the world to attract more capital and restore insurance markets. Ukraine, on the other hand, should help veterans, displaced persons and refugees acquire the skills necessary to rebuild the country.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on Monday, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery Penny Pritzker and CEOs of American companies Amentum, Clayco Inc, and WestingHouse Nuclear arrived on a visit to Kyiv.

The special representative said this was her last visit, as she would be leaving the post at the request of Congress.