Bloomberg Businessweek: Putin vs. Accountant

The weekly magazine Bloomberg Businessweek placed Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the cover of its latest issue, signing their portraits with the phrase “Putin against the Accountant.”

“She's from Chicago. Her last job was at a private equity fund. And the future of Ukraine is in her hands,” claims the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek.

Journalist Brett Forest writes in an article American woman who stands between Putin and Ukraine: “Three months ago, Jaresko, 49, left the private investment company she co-founded in Ukraine in 2006 to join Petro Poroshenko’s team. … Now, as the country's chief economic official, she is Ukraine's liaison to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Tax reform is hers. So is the treasury. She must build a national budget from “nothing.”

“Whether Ukraine will succeed as an independent democratic state may largely depend on the efforts of Jaresko and her colleagues, as well as on military battles. Together, they must rebuild a shattered economy and restore international confidence in Ukraine, confronting the corruption and cronyism that has plagued the country since the fall of communism. And they have to somehow do this while state-owned banks are teetering on the brink of collapse... and inflation is 28% and rising. Last month, in a few hours of one day, the local currency, the hryvnia, lost a third of its value. The longer the war goes on and reforms are delayed, the more hostile Ukrainians become towards the government and its Western supporters, making the country even more vulnerable to Vladimir Putin,” the author concludes.