Anatoliy Amelin: Ukraine has lost half of its economy in less than 10 years

– If you look at the current report of the Cabinet of Ministers, it seems that we live in a great country, and when you read such an article – you see quite different, the opposite things.

– Let’s be honest from start to finish. If we recall how the economy had been developing until 2008, when we had a GDP of $ 188 billion, and now we have 93, then we have lost half of the economy in dollar terms in less than 10 years. Is it good or not? This is a serious crisis, furthermore, Ukraine is losing its market share abroad. If you look at what Ukraine is exporting today, it is clearly seen that Ukrainian export consists of mostly raw materials. What does it mean? We do not sell finished products with added value, we do not sell equipment, we do not sell technology, but we do sell raw materials. These raw materials, in fact, we receive from the ground or for example wood, which we have been sawing at least before. We also were selling wood materials, even unprocessed. If you compare the dynamics of world prices on raw materials and impose the Ukrainian GDP on it, then you’ll see a correlation, I mean a coincidence about 80%. That is, we do not form the future of our economy, but completely depend on global trends and demand for raw materials. The author very correctly placed emphasis in this context. The understanding of the problem still affects the fact that it needs to be solved and this, in fact, forms the solution. Unfortunately, the author does not provide a solution, but he announces the problems, and there is no time for thinking, it is necessary to solve it here and now. The author also asserts that Ukraine’s raw material potential has no future. Well, it is not like that, the fact is that the raw material sector of Ukraine will exist for the next 10-15 years, moreover, it exists now.

You know, in the classical BCG matrix there are cash cows, namely, such sectors that are a resource for other newly created sectors.

The new economy has appeared in Ukraine. We have IT sector, HiTech sector. In fact, Ukrainian science has a huge number of developments and inventions that are not commercialized. I have experience of investing in such projects, I am a venture investor.