Upon taking office, President Viktor Yuschenko famously noted, “money knows no borders”. What, exactly, does this phrase mean for foreign investors with an interest in Ukraine? The country began to emerge from its economic doldrums in spring 2000, when the influential mayors of key cities such as Kiev, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkov created a ‘repatriation amnesty’.
This involved inviting Ukrainian businessmen to return capital to Ukraine in a tax-free manner as long as a portion of the repatriated money was used to give the city centres a much-needed face lift.
