ABSTRACT
The Ukrainian privatization programme was initiated in a society characterized by overall dominance of the state sector in the economy, by the virtual absence of robust capital and financial markets, and by a lack of understanding of the essence of these both on the part of the population in general and policy-makers in particular. Whereas central and eastern Europe (CEE) had already witnessed an explosion of privatization activity in 1992, Ukraine since then has been making backwards and forwards movements, trying to overcome political opposition and the legislative vacuum, and implementing a variety of legal and illegal forms and methods. The initial plan of privatization in Ukraine, together with the numerous amendments and corrections launched at different stages by the Supreme Council of Ukraine or by the President, were rather ambiguous and complicated. Ukraine demonstrated substantial slowness in its implementation of privatization, against a general background of delay in executing all other components of market reform. Only in October 1994 did President Kuchma initiate a new phase of privatization in Ukraine, putting it on the more simple, transparent and straightforward track of mass privatization.
