It’s time to review the results of 2018 and Ukrainians statistics’ vital indicators show the state of economics. Some figures have already been released by Ukrstat. What is awaiting Ukraine in 2019?
Economics of Ukraine in 2018
In 2018 inflation in Ukraine was 108,7%, the government’s official statistics service Ukrstat reported.
The nominal average wage in Ukraine increased by 25% to the previous year and the earnings for the period of January-November 2018 reached 8,711 hryvnia per month.
However, wage arrears have also increased by nearly half a billion UAH: from 2.37 billion to 2.82 billion UAH (by 19%).
Wage arrears are the salaries due to be paid to employees, which have been delayed by employers. It is a habitual practice in Ukraine, which allows companies to manage the cash flow. It is, of course, against the law, but it keeps happening, and, as we can see, the amount of unpaid wages due has sharply increased in 2018.
So, Ukrainians are now earning more, but they aren’t getting paid on time.
The exchange rate of USD to Ukrainian hryvnia is also on the rise, so the amount of earnings in dollars is shrinking.
Any hike in the exchange rate causes price hikes across all sectors and once the prices grow, they rarely go back.
On 15 January 2019 1 US Dollar was worth 28.02 UAH.
Thus, the rise in nominal wages in Ukraine may be eaten by the drop in the exchange rate pretty quickly, if Ukrainian hrynvia keeps weakening.
Presidential elections in Ukraine
Ukrainians are electing a new president on 31 March 2019. This event adds to instability within the country, where the division between people wanting to align with the European Union vs. the ones who wish to return to being friends with Russia is strong.
None of the candidates seems to have a chance to score over 50% of votes, which means Ukrainians will have to vote in the second round. This makes it even more interesting. The pair of top performers Timoshenko vs. Zelensky score about the same (22% vs. 23%) in the rating, which is within the margins of statistical error. The actual result is hard to predict.
The rating was published in December 2018.
Current President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is #3 in the rating 3 months prior to the election day. Former prime-minister Yulia Tymoshenko is in the lead in the poll with 11.9% of people intending to vote for her on the election day. She us the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union “Fatherland” political party that strives for integration with the European Union.
Actor and producer Volodymyr Zelensky has already tried the role of the Ukrainian president by playing him in comedy ‘People’s Servant 2’. Now ‘People’s Servant’ is a political party that is given thumbs up by enough people to see it through to the second round of 2019 Ukrainian elections. Is this a new era for Ukrainian politics?
Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 showed the speech by Zelensky istead of the traditional speech by the President of the country with greetings on the New Year’s Eve. The move sparked a lot of controversy and rumors
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