Page 68 - BNE_magazine_07_2020

68 Opinion
bne July 2020
highly unlikely. Turkey is on course for 3.8% contraction in 2020 as predicted by the World Bank. Slovakia is expecting
a 6.1% contraction in 2020, according to the National Bank. And Romania will experience a 4% contraction in 2020 before a strong bounce-bank, according to the EBRD.
By contrast, the weak and war-ravaged Ukrainian economy is looking at the prospect of a 4% contraction this year before bouncing back by the same amount or more in 2021.
However, Ukraine is starting from a lower base and more important than its GDP growth result is the investment climate, which remains dogged by political instability.
As bne IntelliNews reported in its cover story last month “Growers”, there is a raft of countries that Ukraine is competing with to attract FDI, and they have much better and much more stable investment climates than Ukraine, even if their potential GDP upside in the next 24 months is less.
OPINION:
Kazakhstan is ready to be rediscovered
by British businesses post-Brexit
Kazakhstan's ambassador to the UK Erlan Idrissov in London
Afew months ago, many of us were looking to the future through a rather rosy lens of optimism. With the general election just past its head and Brexit in full swing, the United Kingdom was about to enter a new era in
its history. It seemed things finally got more or less clear about Britain’s path forward.
But the deadly virus was already at its doorstep, sweeping through its streets and cities, claiming thousands of lives and bringing down entire industries. The optimism has faded and uncertainty is back to rule the roost.
I don’t have a crystal ball but one thing is certain: Britain will respond to the growing challenges as it always has – with courage, perseverance, and ingenuity. And an important
step towards charting the post-Brexit course and galvanising the post-COVID growth would be to forge new international partnerships and reinvent the time-tested ones.
Kazakhstan – the globe’s ninth largest country scoring higher in World Bank’s ease of doing business rating than the
www.bne.eu
Ukraine GDP quarterly growth %y/y
Source: NBU ICU
The irony is Ukraine’s government is undermining its own appeal with exactly the kind of comments and arguments that Dubinsky is making in these statements: the very fact that he is making these arguments for change kill their chances of working.
Erlan Idrissov is Kazakhstan's ambassador to the UK.
vast majority of European nations – looks forward to being “rediscovered” by British businesses searching for new avenues to explore.
The United Kingdom is Kazakhstan’s strategic partner, one of its largest foreign investors and trade destinations. The United Kingdom helped us create the Astana International Financial Centre – an unprecedented hub of English common law and British business practices in the heart of Eurasia. British companies can now come and work in Kazakhstan in a very familiar and comfortable regulatory environment.
And there is a lot Kazakhstan can offer to UK businesses. A key pillar of the ancient Silk Road and a “buckle” on today’s Belt and Road, my country is in a unique geographical position
to continue thriving as a land bridge between Europe and Asia. With so many flights grounded and global value chains shattered, fast and reliable ground transportation through Kazakhstan is an increasingly attractive alternative. And modern technological advances in, for example, packing and conservation allow creatively thinking businesses to find and