Business peciliarities in Ukraine and Bealrus
7 percent in 19911996. The
country experienced hyperinflation and an exceptionally huge production decline for a
country not ravaged by a major war. Official GDP collapsed by almost half from 1990 to
1994, and slow decline continued throughout the decade. Economic growth would not
resume again until 2000. The budget deficit was, at 14.4 percent of GDP, exceptionally large.
Barter and the use of surrogate moneys and foreign currencies prevailed. Ukraine had
introduced a sovereign currency, the Hryvnia, but it was little used. A shadow economy
swelled and compensated for an unknown share of the economic collapse.
2001-2008
Between 2001 and 2008, the Ukrainian economy picked up significantly. Many of Ukraine's
large-scale capitalists--the oligarchs--are former Soviet-era industrial managers who
succeeded on a grand scale when industries were privatized. Their wealth was originally
based on a traditional, simple formula: convert cheap energy and raw materials into metals