National Economy of Ukraine

A highly developed industry is the foundation of the might of any country. Because of its potential Ukraine is an industrial-agricultural country. But since its independence Ukraine has confronted some economic problems. National economy of Ukraine is considered to be in transition now on its way to a market-based one. The situation today is better but the main features of our economy today are still inflation, high prices, growing unemployment and others.

Ukraine possesses considerable potential in such sectors of economy as machine engineering, aerospace, telecommunications, textile, clothing, footwear, and agriculture (due to its unique black soil). Furthermore, Ukraine has a powerful defense industry, significant scientific potential and has shown considerable achievements in the field of designing brand new technologies that meet international standard requirements.

At present due to new economic and political conditions our industry trends to grow and develop from year to year. Machine engineering and converted military industrial complexes started to produce about 200 types of new products. Among them are food-processing machinery, medical equipment, transportation vehicles, construction materials and equipment, small farming machines and home appliances.

Ukraine is rich in mineral resources. It completely satisfies her needs in iron, manganese and titanium ores, as well as in rock salt, cement, gypsum, mineral paints, graphite, mercury and uranium. We expect considerable progress in agricultural production after the village has been reoriented towards the market economy.

The machine-building potential of Ukraine includes tractors and agricultural machine building, production of diesel locomotives and railroad cars, sea and river vessels, refrigerators, TV-sets, washing machines, electric motors, industrial robots, motor-cycles and others. Well-developed are black and colored metallurgy, chemical, oil and wood processing industries.

Due to her size and geographical position, economic potential and nuclear capability Ukraine should play significant role in Europe. So, the main lines of economic reforms involve the tasks to balance government income against expenses, to close down inefficient plants and factories and invest into new advanced industries, to realize the programme of privatization, and stimulate exports to make the balance of payment of the country favourable.

And what concerns you, the students with economic training, the task is to educate and train a new generation of managers who have the ability and skills to implement market reforms.

British Economy

Great Britain is a highly industrialized country with favourable balance of payment: for every person employed in agriculture, twelve are employed in industry. Britain's economy is based primarily on private enterprise, which accounts for 75 per cent of employment. Most of the gross national product comes from manufacturing. But services industry outputs 65 per cent, while manufacturing accounts for 21 per cent.

North-west of London, in the midland counties is a very important industrial district where a lot of machine tools, domestic metal ware, rubber products are produced. The largest coal and iron fields in Britain are located in the Midlands. Further north is Manchester, one of the main centers for electrical and heavy engineering and for the production of a wide range of goods including computers, electronic equipment, petrochemicals, and Pharmaceuticals. Newcastle is famous for its shipbuilding yards and its export of coal, the east of Manchester is well-known for its manufacture of high quality steels, tools and cutlery. It is the commercial centre of the wool trade.

Due to rich deposits of oil and natural gas in the North Sea, Britain has become self-sufficient in energy. Exports, mainly to other EC countries, are equivalent to over half of domestic oil production.

International trade plays a vital role in Britain's economy. Exports of goods and services make up around 32 per cent of national output, compared with 25 per cent in 1990s.

Growth in manufacturing productivity in Britain in late 1990s was faster than in all other leading countries, but productivity in the economy as a whole has risen slowly lately.

The Government's economic strategy is centred on keeping the rate of inflation down. Public spending and borrowing are tightly controlled. A substantial amount of activity has been transferred from the public to the private sector through privatization. Since 1980s 46 major businesses have been privatized, including British Gas, British Telecom and British Steel. The remaining major nationalized industries are British Coal, British Rail, the Post Office and London Transport. These are expected to act as commercial enterprises and achieve a required rate of return on new investment

Although Britain is a densely populated, industrialized country, agriculture is still one of its important industries. Dairing is most common in the west of England, sheep and cattle are reared in the hilly and moorland areas of northern and south-western England.

And finally, Britain is a major financial centre, housing some of the world's leading banking, insurance, securities, shipping, commodities, futures and other financial services and markets.

Direct control on pay, prices, foreign exchange, dividend payments and commercial credit are under strict scrutiny of the Government.