wo equal horizontal bands of azure (top) and golden
yellow represent grainfields under a blue sky

Economy

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.
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 1992-96 fell precipitously 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 a comprehensive economic
reform program, 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. However, if KUCHMA succeeds in implementing
aggressive market reforms during 1997, the economy should reverse its
downward trend, with real growth occurring by late 1997 and into 1998.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $161.1 billion (1996 estimate as
extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)

GDP - real growth rate: -10% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,170 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture : 14%
industry: 45%
services: 41% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 40% (yearend 1996)

Labor force:
total: 23 million (January 1996)
by occupation: industry and construction 33%, agriculture and forestry
21%, health, education, and culture 16%, trade and distribution 7%,
transport and communication 7%, other 16% (1992)

Unemployment rate: 1% officially registered; large number of
unregistered or underemployed workers (December 1996)

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA