Ukrainian GDP fell by 29.1 percent in 2022

Ukraine’s gross domestic product fell by 29.1 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year due to the Russian invasion that devastated the country, the Ukrainian State Statistics Committee announced today.

A country that has been resisting with the help of Western military and financial aid has destroyed entire parts of its economy. The construction sector was the hardest hit, with a 67.6 percent drop last year.

Nevertheless, although hostilities continue and 20 percent of Ukrainian territory is occupied, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of the key financiers of Kyiv, is counting on a partial and gradual economic recovery this year, reports Beta.

The IMF estimates that, depending on the scenario, the Ukrainian economy could move between a three percent recession and one percent growth in 2023, compared to last year’s low base. That institution predicts an acceleration of economic growth in 2024 to 3.2 percent and then to six percent in 2025.

The fund has just approved $15.6 billion in aid to Ukraine as part of a major international support plan worth $115 billion.

Ukraine was one of the poorest countries in Europe, even before the Russian attack. In 2021, its GDP recorded a growth of 3.4 percent.

The world is yet to feel the economic impact of the war in Ukraine

A year after the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian economy is resisting and is far from the “collapse” predicted by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire after the first waves of Western sanctions. Moscow’s gross domestic product (GDP) will decrease by only 2.1 percent in 2022, according to the Russian statistical service Rosstat. As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates, the Russian economy is even predicted to grow by 0.3 percent in 2023.

In his State of the Nation address, Vladimir Putin said that they had achieved stability in the economic situation and protected Russian citizens. He added that the West had failed to destabilize Russian society.