The current state of the economy and macroeconomic forecasts for the coming years, labour market issues, as well as components of the “Made in Ukraine” economic policy were discussed during a meeting between the leadership of the Ministry of Economy and representatives of the IMF mission to Ukraine.
The meeting was attended by First Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksii Sobolev, Deputy Ministers Tetiana Berezhna and Volodymyr Kuzio, Deputy Chief of the IMF Mission to Ukraine Trevor Lessard and Mission representative Klaus Hellwig.
According to Oleksii Sobolev, GDP grew by 4.1% in the first six months of the year, and was expected to grow by 3.5% in the full year.
“As for the forecast macroeconomic indicators for 2025-2027, the baseline scenario recently approved by the Government takes into account both security factors and other factors, some of which stem from the security situation,” said First Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksii Sobolev.
In particular, one of the most important factors that significantly affects the economy today and will influence its growth dynamics in the future is the demographic situation in the country and, in particular, the availability of labour resources. In particular, due to the war, Ukrainians going abroad and internal migration, there is a staff shortage and structural unemployment in the country.
According to Deputy Minister of Economy Tetiana Berezhna, while in 2021 the official labour market had 11.5 million employees, in 2023 this figure decreased to 9 million officially employed.
“According to preliminary calculations, we need 4.5 million additional employees to ensure annual growth of the GDP by 7% until 2030,” said Tetiana Berezhna.
To address the problem of structural unemployment, the Government is helping people adapt to changes in labour market demand. In particular, it offers people to learn new professions that are in demand on the market through training programmes or professional development courses. According to Tetyana Berezhna, work is also nearing completion on a project to modernise labour legislation. Its adoption will help improve the situation on the labour market.
During the conversation, the mission representatives were also told in detail about the projects that are part of the “Made in Ukraine” economic policy. The policy is designed to stimulate the development of production in Ukraine and increase the share of industry in the country’s GDP. At the same time, it will contribute to solving other tasks facing the state. In particular, the return of Ukrainians who have moved abroad.
“When Ukrainians start thinking about returning, they ask themselves questions. Where will I live? Where will I work? Projects under the Made in Ukraine policy, such as eOselia, grant programmes for starting a business, microgrants, and production support programmes that help create jobs, provide answers to these questions,” said Oleksii Sobolev.
As noted during the meeting, the “Made in Ukraine” economic policy envisages three key areas: production development through stimulating demand for Ukrainian goods from the state, the private sector and citizens, investment in the real sector through access to grants, financing, economic incentives, etc. and an increase in non-resource exports through opening up market access and export financing. (Government portal)