The privatisation process was suspended a year ago over the COVID-19 pandemic and officials said earlier this year that they hoped selloffs could raise as much as $430 million.

Without strong efforts both bottom-up and top-down to preserve love for literature, the domestic book market may continue to suffer.

Annual inflation jumped to 10.2 percent in July, up from 9.5 percent in June this year and 5 percent in December last year.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ukraine's Agrarian Policy Ministry that envisages joint work on sector reforms, including identifying the proper institutional approach to improve the irrigation and drainage systems.

Commentators injected a note of scepticism into the process, saying part of the problem lay with Ukraine’s failure to uphold and guarantee property rights.