Economy - overview After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities of meat, milk, grain, and vegetables to other republics. Likewise, its diversified heavy industry supplied equipment and raw materials to industrial and mining sites in other regions of the former USSR. Ukraine depends on imports of energy, especially natural gas. Shortly after the implosion of the USSR in December 1991, the Ukrainian Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatization, but widespread resistance to reform within the government and the legislature soon stalled reform efforts and led to some backtracking. Output in 1992-97 fell to less than half the 1991 level. Loose monetary policies pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels in late 1993. Since his election in July 1994, President KUCHMA has pushed economic reforms, maintained financial discipline, and tried to remove almost all remaining controls over prices and foreign trade. Implementation of KUCHMA's economic agenda is encountering considerable resistance from parliament, entrenched bureaucrats, and industrial interests; and an environment of corruption continues to discourage foreign investors. One signal achievement has been the reduction of the inflation rate to 10% by yearend 1997. If KUCHMA succeeds in implementing aggressive market reforms during 1998, the economy should reverse its downward trend, with real growth occurring by late 1998 and into 1999.

GDP purchasing power parity - $124.9 billion (1997 est.)

GDP - real growth rate -3.2% (1997 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $2,500 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 14%
industry: 30%
services: 56% (1997 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 10% (yearend 1997 est.)

Labor force
total: 22.8 million (yearend 1997)
by occupation: industry and construction 32%, agriculture and forestry 24%, health, education, and culture 17%, trade and distribution 8%, transport and communication 7%, other 12% (1996)

Unemployment rate 2.6% officially registered; large number of unregistered or underemployed workers (December 1997)

Budget
revenues: $18 billion
expenditures: $21 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)

Industries coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food-processing (especially sugar)

Industrial production growth rate -1.8% (1997 est.)

Electricity - capacity 52 million kW (1997)

Electricity - production 177 billion kWh (1997)

Electricity - consumption per capita 3,431 kWh (1997)

Agriculture - products grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables; meat, milk

Exports
total value: $15.2 billion (1997 est.)
commodities: ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, food products
partners: Russia, China, Belarus, Turkey, Germany (1997)

Imports
total value: $20.2 billion (1997 est.)
commodities: energy, machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, plastics and rubber
partners: Russia, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Germany, China

Debt - external $9.6 billion (including $2.1 billion to Russia) (yearend 1997 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $220 million (1993)
note: commitments, 1992-95, $4.5 billion ($4.1 billion drawn)

Currency on 2 September 1996, Ukraine introduced the long-awaited hryvnia as its national currency, replacing the karbovanets (in circulation since 12 November 1992) at a rate of 100,000 karbovantsi to 1 hryvnia

Exchange rates hryvnia per US$1 - 1.9359 (February 1998), 1.8617 (1997), 1.8295 (1996), 1.4731 (1995), 0.3275 (1994), 0.0453 (1993)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Ukraine on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ukraine Economy 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ukraine Economy 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.