KYIV – While attention for most of the first half of May remained focused on combating the coronavirus pandemic and on the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, there have been other important developments in Ukraine that deserve to be noted.
The most significant was the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada on May 13 of the bitterly contested and consequently long-delayed critical banking law that prevents the return of nationalized banks to their former owners. That removed the last remaining hurdle for the country to receive am estimated $5 billion stand-by deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help offset the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and its devastating impact on Ukraine’s fragile economy.