Ukraine: Macroeconomics of War

The economic transition policies that followed the dismantling of th USSR led, due to a lack of gradualism, to a deep deterioration in Ukraine’s institutional balances, which weighed heavily, and continues to weigh, on the country’s economic performance over the three decades following independence. The country has experienced almost as many years of recession, sometimes severe, as of growth, which was modest except during the 2000s. Since the Maidan Revolution, the country’s institutional renewal has been hit by Russian aggression, with very deep recessions in 2014, 2015 and especially 2022, despite the economy’s remarkable resilience. As a result, per capita income in 2024 was 30% lower than in 1990, in constant dollars and at purchasing power parity.