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cut the planned budget deficit from 6% of GDP to 5.7% for 2021.
However, the remaining issues will be harder as the government has resisted implementing judicial and law enforcement reforms to reduce corruption.
“The first two issues depend directly on the government and will likely be resolved without greater difficulties. However, the latter three topics concerning the judicial reform and anti-corruption could prove more challenging as they require adoption of laws in parliament,” consultant Teneo said in a note.
“Truly reform-oriented legislation might struggle to receive support in parliament – particularly as the ruling Servant of the People (SN) group in parliament is divided – while the watered-down bills might not satisfy the IMF. The next plenary session in Vekhovna Rada is scheduled for 16-19 March,” Teneo added.
As bne IntelliNews has reported in “The Oligarch Problem” the Rada is stuffed with proxies for the oligarchs who are resisting judicial reforms and the elite in government itself uses corruption as a tool to exercise power, as corruption is the system.
2.3 NBU’s deputy governor slams the central bank’s new policies
The First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kateryna Rozhkova slammed the policies of the central bank under the new governor Kyrylo Shevchenko in an interview on March 10 with Novoye Vremya.
A long standing employee of the bank who worked with the last two well respected governors, Valeriya Gontareva and Yakiv Smolii who unexpectedly quit on June 2 citing “systemic political pressure,” tension amongst the top
8 UKRAINE Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com