UKRAINE
Total area: 603,700 sq km (slightly smaller than Texas)
Population: 46.1 million
Government type: Republic
Administrative division: Crimea Autonomous Republic, 24 provinces (called „oblast“), and 2 cities with special status
Capital + other major cities: Kyiv (Kiev) (2.76 million) + Kharkov (1.47 million), Dnepropetrovsk (1.1 million), Odessa (1.1 million), Donetsk (1.01 million)
Currency: hryvnia (UAH)
Languages: Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%, plus minorities speaking Romanian, Polish, and Hungarian
Ethnicity: Ukrainian 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Belarusian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8%
Religion:: Ukrainian Orthodox 19%, Orthodox (no particular jurisdiction) 16%, Ukrainian orthodox 9%, Ukrainian Greek Catholic 6%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 1.7%, Protestant, Jewish, none 38%
President: (Mr.) Viktor Yanukovych (since 25 February 2010)
Prime Minister:(Mr.) Mykola Azarov (since 11 March 2010) |
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MACROECONOMIC OVERVIEW
Selected economic indicators, Ukraine, 2005 - 2011
| |
|
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
| GDP |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Real GDP growth |
% |
2.7 |
7.3 |
7.9 |
2.3 |
-14.8 |
4.1 |
5.2 |
| GDP at current prices |
€ bn |
66.6 |
77.8 |
104.1 |
123 |
87 |
90.3 |
117.0 |
| Foreign trade |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Exports |
€ bn |
32.5 |
36.5 |
42.5 |
53.4 |
36.3 |
n/a |
43.6 |
| Imports |
€ bn |
31.4 |
38.8 |
47.8 |
62.6 |
35.3 |
n/a |
51.8 |
| Balance |
€ bn |
1.0 |
-2.3 |
-5.3 |
-9.2 |
-0.9 |
n/a |
-8.2 |
| Prices |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| CPI - average inflation rate |
% |
13.5 |
9.1 |
12.8 |
22.3 |
12.3 |
9.4 |
4.6 |
| Employment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Registered unemployment |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
8.7 |
7.9 |
| Exchange rates |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| UAH/USD average |
|
5.12 |
5.05 |
5.05 |
5.27 |
7.79 |
7.94 |
7.96 |
| UAH/EUR average |
|
6.39 |
6.34 |
6.92 |
7.7 |
10.87 |
10.53 |
11.07 |
Source: State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, Ministry of Economics of Ukraine, CIA, The World Factbook 2012
Ukraine has a strong potential to become a major European player due to its rich farmlands, a well-developed industrial base, and highly educated and skilled labour.
After Ukraine's macroeconomic situation became stabilized following almost a decade of steep economic decline resulting from the painful transition process from state planning to a market-driven economy, the country enjoyed robust economic growth in 2006 and 2007.
Unfortunately, the economic crisis hit Ukraine quite hardly in late 2008 and especially in 2009, decreasing the local currency value by almost 70%. Financial sector, construction, metallurgy and retail belonged to the most affected industries.
Ukraine's growth resumed in 2010 and continued into 2011 (GDP rising by 4.1% and 5.2% respectively).
Future success of Ukraine is strongly dependent on the speed of market reforms as the country's burden resides in significant government regulation, corruption, and insufficient law enforcement.
Despite the low official unemployment rate, Ukraine has a large number of unregistered and underemployed workers as well as those seeking jobs in Russia and Western and Central Europe. The actual level of unemployment could be around 9% to 10%.
KEY SECTORS
Compared to other CEE markets the agricultural sector maintains a relatively large (over 9%) share in Ukraine’s GDP; GDP contribution of the services and industrial sectors reached 56.1% and 34.7% respectively in 2011.
The key sectors of Ukrainian economy include the coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, and food processing (especially sugar) industries.
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