Ukraine's Economy Is Starting to Grow, Situation in Key Industries Is Improving – Yuliia Svyrydenko

The Ukrainian Government expects the gross domestic product to grow by 3-4% this year and notes the improvement of a situation in the key industries.

That was announced by Yulia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy, at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting “The Future is Being Decided in Ukraine”, organised by YES in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

“The GDP will grow by 4%. Skeptics say that growth will be approximately 3%. We see improvement in the key industries. The grain harvest will be about 50 million tons. We have certain problems with exports, but I believe the situation will improve due to alternative routes,” said the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine.

According to Svyrydenko, the Government is working on solving export-related problems together with Western partners and financial institutions.

The Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine also reported that the labour market in Ukraine had been experiencing some structural problems with approximately five million Ukrainians remaining abroad.

“The unemployed persons do not have skills that the labour market requires, thus, this year and the next year, we will focus on training and retraining, as it will be impossible to ensure the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine without that,” added Yulia Svyridenko.

She also outlined two urgent steps that were necessary for the effective reconstruction of Ukraine – support for local businesses and risk insurance.

“We, in the government, should focus on two things. Supporting local businesses that are taxpayers, which will allow to pay wages to their employees and will facilitate us paying allowances to the military. And also insurance. The Government expects Parliament to vote on amendments and changes to the legislation, which will allow Ukrainian agencies to insure both Ukrainian and foreign companies that will be involved in the rebuilding of Ukraine,” summarised Yuliia Svyrydenko.