NEW MARKETS

Investment risks in post-Soviet republics during the first two decades of the 21st century, many post-Soviet republics introduced economic reforms to attract foreign investment. However, investors still face risks from high rates of corruption and the role of local oligarchs. The EU-funded NEW MARKETS project will detect invisible and non-official risks that could harm foreign business activity. The project will compare the development of economic reforms in two groups of countries: those which adopted full liberalisation earlier (Estonia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan) and those that only recently opened their markets (Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan). It will also conduct an empirical evaluation of policies aiming to ameliorating the business environment in the above countries.