Oksana MARKAROVA
Co-founder of the Capital Market Development Foundation
Minister of Finance 2018-2020, First Deputy Minister of Finance, Government Commissioner for Investments 2015-2018
Oksana Markarova received her first master's degree in ecology at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Then she studied at Indiana University (Bloomington, USA) and obtained in 2001 a Master's degree in International Public Finance and Trade, receiving the Academic Excellence Award and the Best International Student Award.
During her studies in 1996-1998, Oksana worked at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and in the consulting company Chemonics Intl. Inc. within the framework of the "Ukrainian Agrarian Commodity Exchange" project.
In early 2015, Oksana Markarova moved to the public sector. From March 2015 - April 2016, she held the position of Deputy Minister - Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. On 29 April 2016, she was appointed First Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine, on 8 June 2018 she was appointed Acting Minister of Finance of Ukraine, and on 22 November 2018, the Parliament of Ukraine approved her as Minister of Finance. On 8 August 2016, Oksana Markarova was also appointed Government Commissioner for Investments.
In 2015-2018, Oksana Markarova initiated and facilitated the creation of the largest open data portal in the public finance sector, Edata (https://e-data.gov.ua), which now consists of the modules spending.gov.ua, openbudget.gov.ua and proifi.gov.ua. In 2018, Oksana Markarova received the Open Data Leader Award for her outstanding personal achievements in the development of open data. She also co-authored the Strategy for the Management of State-Owned Banks (2017-2019) and the corporate governance reform in state-owned banks, which resulted in all state-owned banks having professional supervisory boards with a majority of independent members and launched the process of depoliticising the management of state-owned banks.
As a government commissioner, Oksana Markarova established the UkraineInvest Investment Attraction and Support Office (https://ukraineinvest.com) and the Ukrainian Startup Fund (https://usf.com.ua) and coordinated their activities until early 2020. For her work in office, Oksana Markarova received the Thanksgiving Award from the American Chamber of Commerce in 2019.
Oksana Markarova is the main co-author of the 2015-2020 budget reform, during which she introduced medium-term budgeting by writing and presenting the Concept in December 2016 and securing its adoption by the Cabinet of Ministers, and amendments to the Budget Code in 2018. She also submitted the first 3-year Declaration from the Ministry of Finance to the Cabinet of Ministers in 2019.
As minister in 2018-2020, Oksana Markarova continued the unrepresentative fiscal consolidation started in 2015-2017, which she coordinated as deputy responsible for the state budget. As a result, the budget deficit was reduced to 2% in 2019. During Markarova's tenure at the Ministry of Finance, the state budget law was passed twice by the parliament for the earliest time in the history of modern Ukraine (on 22 November 2018 and 14 November 2019).
As Minister of Finance, she also successfully negotiated and signed a successful 18-month SBA programme with the International Monetary Fund, which supported Ukraine in the year of the double elections (2019), and a new 3-year EFF program, which reached an SLA in December 2019.
The adopted Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy, authored by Oksana Markarova and Government Commissioner Yuriy Butsa, was successfully implemented and, together with fiscal consolidation, allowed Ukraine to reduce its public debt-to-GDP ratio to a record high - from 80% in 2017 to 60% in 2019 and to 50% in early 2020.
In 2019-2020, under Markarova's leadership, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine returned to the Eurobond market for the first time in 10 years and made two successful placements: EUR 1bn in June 2019 at 6.75% and EUR 1.250bn in January 2020 at 4.375% - the lowest rate in Ukraine's history. In its annual review, The Banker recognised the June placement as the European transaction of the year among sovereign issuers, national organisations and agencies. Earlier in 2019, Ukraine received several awards at the Global Capital Bond Awards, including second place in the Most Impressive Issuer from the CIS and Former CIS region category.
After completing her work at the Ministry on 4 March 2020, Oksana Markarova returned to business, founded the start-up Archidata, an innovative archiving company, and co-founded the Capital Market Development Foundation in Ukraine, which supports the InvestMonitor project and is actively working on digital transformation and the transition of the stock market to a new quality level.
Oksana Markarova is a member of the Advisory Board of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a member of the Circle of Friends of the Ukrainian Catholic University and a member of the Pi Alpha Alpha honorary society (USA).