Part 780

Diplomatic representation in US: chief of mission: Ambassador Yuriy Mikolayevych SHCHERBAK chancery: 3350 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: (202) 333-0606 FAX: (202) 333-0817 consulate(s) general: Chicago and New York

US diplomatic representation: chief of mission: Ambassador William Green MILLER embassy: 10 Yuria Kotsyubinskovo, 252053 Kiev 53 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: (44) 244-7345 FAX: (44) 244-7350

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

Economy -------

Economic 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. In early 1992, 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. Loose monetary policies pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels in late 1993. Since his election in July 1994, President KUCHMA has developed a comprehensive economic reform program, maintained financial discipline, and removed almost all controls over prices and foreign trade. Implementation of KUCHMA's economic agenda is encountering considerable resistance from parliament, entrenched bureaucrats, and industrial interests. However, should KUCHMA succeed in implementing aggressive market reforms during 1996, the economy may stabilize and possibly achieve real growth in the range of 0.5%-1%.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $174.6 billion (1995 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)

GDP real growth rate: -4% (1995 est.)

GDP per capita: $3,370 (1995 est.)

GDP composition by sector: agriculture: 31% industry: 43% services: 26% (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9% monthly average (1995)

Labor force: 23.55 million (January 1994) 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: 0.7% officially registered; large number of unregistered or underemployed workers (December 1995)

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

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

Industrial production growth rate: -11% (1995 est.)

Electricity: capacity: 54,380,000 kW production: 192.1 billion kWh consumption per capita: 3,200 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, vegetables; meat, milk

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivator of cannabis and opium poppy; mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication program; used as transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Exports: $11.3 billion (1995) commodities: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, grain, meat partners: other FSU countries, China, Italy, Switzerland

Imports: $10.7 billion (1995) commodities: energy, machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, textiles partners: other FSU countries, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic

External debt: $8.8 billion (including $4.5 billion to Russia) (late 1995 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 (plural hryvni) 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 - 1.76 (2 September 1996)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation --------------

Railways: total: 23,350 km broad gauge: 23,350 km 1.524-m gauge (8,600 km electrified)

Highways: total: 169,964 km paved: 168,094 km (including 1,767 km of expressways) unpaved: 1,870 km (1992 est.)