Economic Development in Ukraine (by Alastair Nicolson)

 What a complex picture. Official statistics suggest very low levels of economic output, and correspondingly GDP per capita levels are amongst the lowest in the developed world. Received wisdom suggests ‘the majority within the new ruling elite has contempt for productive activity and is interested only in booty…’ But this country used to be the Breadbasket of the Soviet empire, has some of the largest steel mills in the world and provided much of the intellectual capital that developed the Soviet space programme. What is happening behind the scenes??