26 Feb, 2020

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Ukraine

Ukraine was the 57th largest economy in the world by nominal GDP in 2018. Its GDP per capita was $3,095 USD. It is the second largest European country by land area and eighth largest by population. It was ranked 50th in the World Bank's Human Capital Index and 39th in the Economic Complexity Index in 2017. Services was the largest economic sector in 2018 (51.3 percent of GDP), followed by manufacturing (11.5 percent), and agriculture (10.13 percent). In 2017, the largest export sectors were agriculture (33.9 percent), services (23.1 percent), and metals (17.56 percent). The largest individual exports were ICT services (11.26 percent), transport services (9.66 percent), sunflower seed oil (7.05 percent), and corn (5.01 percent). Its largest export partners were Russia (8.82 percent), Italy (5.63 percent), Poland (5.61 percent), Turkey (5.52 percent), Germany (5.15 percent), and India (5.13 percent). The largest goods imports were petroleum gasses (7.88 percent), refined petroleum (7.66 percent), cars (4.36 percent), and coal (4.14 percent). During the 10th and 11th centuries, Kiev emerged as a key trading post between Constantinople and the Varangians. From there an eastern-Slavic state emerged, the Kievan-Rus, which has left a large cultural legacy to this day. After Mongol invasions, Polish-Lithuanian control, and a brief Cossack state, Russia took control in the 18th century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Russia built railroads in the Ukraine and developed the iron and coal industries. Following the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, Ukraine briefly became independent but was recaptured by the Soviets in 1920. Under Soviet control, Ukraine was further industrialised and was a key source of food. Under the Soviets, the country suffered forced famines in 1921-23 and 1932-33 (8m deaths). WW2 also led to the loss of over 6.5m people. Ukraine gained independence in 1991. Initial economic reforms stalled by the late 1990s and the economy underperformed. The 2000s saw growth but the Global Financial Crisis and the conflict with Russia from 2014 led to sharp contractions in 2009 and 2014-15. Recent reforms, resilience and international assistance has seen growth return from 2016.