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Ukraine to lift moratorium on farmland sale by year-end

31 July 2019 18:35 (UTC +04:00)

Ukraine plans to lift a moratorium on farmland sales and launch the land market by the end of 2019, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleksiy Honcharuk has said, APA reports citing Ukrinform.

"There's an understanding in the team that if it's not done this year, it will be quite difficult," Honcharuk said, adding that the Presidential Office is looking for the "least painful but most efficient version" of opening the land market.

According to him, discussions with the World Bank will determine whether to allow purchases by foreigners or limit the size of sales. The most liberal version could boost gross domestic product by more than 3 percentage points a year and the most conservative by 0.5 percentage point, he said.

A ban on farmland sales was introduced in Ukraine back in 2001 in order to regulate land relations and create infrastructure for the land market. The parliament has extended the moratorium since then. In December 2018, the Verkhovna Rada extended the moratorium on agricultural land sales until January 1, 2020.