An apparent divergence of economic thinking at the heart of government has unsettled the private sector and foreign businesses. The leaders of Ukraine's Orange Revolution hoped that the country's political change would stimulate a wave of inward investment, especially from the west.

But so far it has not happened. Many business people are coming to Kiev to investigate the potential, but few have put down much hard cash. “It is slower than we hoped,” says Oleksander Zinchenko, the state secretary and one of President Viktor Yushchenko's key political allies. “Of course we are a bit dissatisfied.”