SHORT ANALYSES OF THE UKRAINIAN ECONOMY IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING ITS INDEPENDENCE

Abstract

Even since 1991, after regaining its independence from the Soviet Union, the international community was optimistic regarding the international trajectory of Ukraine, as they believed that soon enough, she would become a new member of NATO, OECD and European Economic Community. Even if Ukraine was the biggest European country in terms of territory, she was always looked upon as being Europe`s “sick man”, an almost failed country given its geopolitical situation, its history and the mistakes that were made in terms of political and institutional development. From an economic perspective, Ukraine did not have a sustainable growth basis and did not followed the trend set out in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The collapse of the heavy industry, the lack of a national coin, the political and economic chaos after the independence brought about serious challenges that this country had to face in order to gain even a small place at the table of the negotiations. The strong dependence on Russian resources did not made the path easier and for many years Ukraine struggled to keep the pace with the international trend in terms of trade and development. This paper stresses the difficulties faced by the Ukrainian economy from the early 90s until 2015-16, the challenges that had to be overcome and the attitude of the International Community towards this country.

Keywords

• economic development
• economic reform
• market economy
• eastern europe