Spotlight: Ukrainian experts mostly positive about government's first year in office

The Ukrainian government led by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman on Friday will mark one year since assuming office, with most local experts assessing its performance over the period as positive.

Although some promises made by the cabinet in April 2016 have yet to be delivered on, the main goals outlined in the government plan for the first 12 months in power were reached, including the key task of achieving macroeconomic stability.

"This government can be described as a government of stabilization and economic recovery. In my opinion, its main achievement is the restoration of economic growth. Although the figures are modest, about 2 percent, the trend of economic decline of the 2014-2015 years has been overcome," said Volodymyr Fesenko, director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies.

The Ukrainian economy grew by 2.3 percent in 2016 compared with a consolidated decline of 16.5 percent over the previous two years. Meanwhile, inflation has slowed down to 12.4 percent last year from 43.3 percent in 2015.

Due to the economic recovery, the government has managed to implement a series of positive changes, with the most important being the doubling of the minimum wage and starting a major road overhaul.

The cabinet also won praise for fulfilling its pledge to improve the investment environment by reducing more than 400 administrative barriers for doing business in Ukraine.

In terms of international cooperation, the government has also done well, attracting vital financing from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

Moreover, the cabinet laid grounds for entering new export markets by sending trade missions to Asian, African and North American countries and establishing free trade areas (FTA) with new partners.

"Ukraine has completed all the needed procedures to create the FTA with Canada, while the similar FTA deal with Turkey is also pending. Besides, there is an intention to establish a comprehensive free trade zone within the countries of the GUAM group, namely Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova," said Alexei Doroshenko, the head of Ukrainian Association of Trade Network Suppliers.

In sum, the progress the government has made in its first year is obvious, but some analysts have pointed out that it is not enough to eliminate the aftershocks of the recent economic recession, which continue to be felt in Ukraine.

Indeed, there is a pressing need to intensify efforts to push forward the promised reforms in such areas as farmland, privatization, pensions, anti-corruption and health care to fill the state budget and further improve the livelihood of ordinary Ukrainians.

"I think that the government could have done more in the past year if it had more political will and more support in parliament. After all, some reforms are being implemented only under the pressure from international organizations," said Vasyl Mokan, an independent political analyst.

The government's failure to implement all the planned reforms over the past year has prompted calls by some opposition forces to remove Groysman's team from office.

The legal instrument for it will appear on April 14, when the 12-month moratorium on cabinet dismissal expires and the parliament gains the right to consider a no-confidence motion against the government.

However, the probability of a cabinet resignation is very low, because President Petro Poroshenko and the ruling coalition are interested in preserving the current relative political stability in Ukraine.

In order for a no-confidence motion to pass, at least 226 lawmakers need to support it, but opposition forces in the parliament may gather no more than 200 votes in aggregate.

"I do not see any possibility at the moment for the resignation of the government. The opposition simply does not have enough votes for such a decision, while the ruling forces have an instinct for self-preservation," said Alexei Golobutsky, deputy head of the Situations Modeling Agency. Endi