Ukraine
RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
GDP grew contracted by 29.1 percent in 2022, due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian economy is expected to grow by 3.5 percent in 2023, however, predictions remain unreliable due to the lack of information on the duration of Russia’s invasion.
UKRAINE AND THE EaP
The Eastern Partner countries have been making a steady progress, making the business climate more conducive for SMEs to enter and operate. This overview of the Doing Business indicator of the World Bank shows the improvement over the years: gradually closing the wide gap with the best performing countries of the region and the world. Ukraine started off at 40.8 percent in 2010 and reached 70.2 percent in 2020 (latest data available).
Doing Business – Distance to frontier, EaP
Source: Doing Business, World Bank, www.doingbusiness.org
NATIONAL SME PERFORMANCE
In 2022, SMEs made up 99.7 percent of all enterprises in the business sector, being 96.5 percent microenterprises.
In the same year, SMEs accounted for 75 percent of the total business employment in Ukraine and generated 64 percent of total turnover.
Business demography indicators, 2022
Source: Ukrstat, 2022.
IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS
The EU’s support for SMEs in the EaP grew by 1.8 percent in 2021. Results for 2021 show a bounce back in terms of the numbers of SMEs supported by the EU and impressive performance of supported SMEs, creating more income and more jobs than in any previous year. The budget available to support SMEs in Ukraine in 2021 was € 212.97 million representing an increase in € 13.76 million (6.9 percent) from 2020.
DATA FOR UKRAINE IN 2021