Corporations Are Expanding Control Over Ukraine’s Land With Help From the IMF and the World Bank

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s external debt has soared as it relied on financial support from the West. Western aid – particularly  through International Financial Institutions (IFIs) – has been conditioned on drastic structural adjustment programmes, which include austerity measures, cuts in social safety nets, and the privatisation of key sectors of the economy, according to a new report from the Oakland Institute – a US based civil society organisation.

One of the key structural adjustments initiated by IFIs in Ukraine was the creation of a land market and deregulation of the agricultural sector to improve the sector’s productivity and access to finance.