When I saw the statement about Ukraine being the poorest country in Europe, I decided to Google more information. It certainly seems that using the metric of local currency incomes compared with other countries Ukraine has rated lowest over a number of years. But it is more complicated than that. Certainly rampant corruption has played a serious role. For example it appears Ukranians with som extra money invest in condos. The really rich send their money overseas. See more details in this article from 2019.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/what-is-wrong-with-the-ukrainian-economy/
It also seems things got worse after 2014. That would make sense with Russia invading the most resource rich eastern areas, and Crimea. However, below is the most interesting paragraph I read. I certainly hope that in the intervening 4 or 5 years, useful measures have been taken to improve the banking situation. There are several other interesting paragraphs about finance and banking before this one.
“The banks’ primary problem is that their biggest clients do not pay. In total, non-performing loans in the Ukrainian banking system are more than 50 percent. The reason is that Ukraine has a few hundred people who consider themselves too superior to pay, and unfortunately the Ukrainian judiciary agrees. In particular, 427 members of parliament enjoy legal immunity and probably two-thirds of them are businessmen. Others have simply very good relations with the relevant parts of the law enforcement apparatus. European elites behaved like that in the 18th century. It was only in the 19th century when the playing field was leveled that Europe started growing.”
I certainly hope that the “legal immunity” enjoyed by the “427 members of parliament” has been substantially fixed by now.
Posting it served NO purpose at all and frankly,it is a distraction without any saving grace to it.