Ukraine ranks as one of the world’s five worst economies, according to a senior editor at Forbes, the popular American business magazine.
In his July 5 blog, Daniel Fisher rated Ukraine the fourth and Armenia, another post Soviet country, the second worst world economies based on a variety of macroeconomic indicators.
Fisher used three-year average statistics for gross domestic product growth and inflation, including the International Monetary Fund’s 2012 estimates, as well as gross domestic product per capita and the current account balance, a measure of whether the country is importing more than it exports.
In all, Fisher ranked the world’s top-10 worst economies.
Other countries that made it into his ranking include Madagascar, Jamaica, Guinea, Venezuela, Kyrgyzstan, Swaziland, Nicaragua and Iran.
Eight of the 10 worst economies were also in the bottom quartile of countries in Transparency International’s Global Perceptions Index, including Ukraine, which ranked 134 out of 178 countries in 2010.
“Ukraine has rich farmland and generous mineral resources and could become a leading European economy,” the Forbes editor wrote.
“Yet per-capita GDP ($3,483) trails far behind even countries like Serbia and Bulgaria,” he added.
Fisher cited the U.S. State Department assertion that “complex laws and regulations, poor corporate governance, weak enforcement of contract law by courts, and particularly corruption” as factors checking Ukraine’s economic potential.
Ukrainian government officials say the country’s economy is rebounding and on track to post about 5 percent GDP growth this year following a whopping 15 percent economic contraction during the 2009 global recession.
But experts say wealth in the country is highly concentrated in the hands of a small group of oligarchs as another year of double digit inflation pinches the pockets of struggling citizens.
Corruption and paralyzing bureaucracy continues to choke competition, small businesses and keeps badly needed investment at bay.
Fisher cited Transparency International’s director of research and knowledge who said that “corruption extends to economic development” and “where government doesn’t work, economies don’t grow.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected]
