NEW TRENDS AND CHALLENGES FOR UKRAINE'S ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT: REGIONAL MEASUREMENT

Abstract

The scale of the national economy and, at the same time, its deep heterogeneity in the regional context determine the relevance of scientific researches in this thematic direction. The purpose of the article is a consideration of current trends in the development of Ukrainian regions in the context of key trends of the national and world economy. The influence of external factors on indicators of socio-economic development of Ukraine during 2012-2018 was investigated. The ranking of Ukraine’s regions according to their contribution to the gross domestic product has been constructed and its dynamics were analyzed. The author’s typology of the regions was proposed according to the level of their economic specialization, according to which the region of Ukraine is divided into four types: industrial (Dnipro, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Rivne and Kharkiv regions), agrarian (Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kropyvnytskyi, Sumy, Ternopil, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi and Chernihiv regions), diversified (Volyn, Transcarpathian and Odesa regions) and alternate (Luhansk, Mykolaiv and Cherkasy regions). The main problems of the national economy were determined, in particular: dependence on the situation on world markets, unsatisfactory output structure of industry and agriculture, deterioration of the structure of capital investments in the processing industry, low level of efficiency, lack of innovation activity of enterprises, decrease of fixed capital, high import dependence. The complex of mechanisms for ensuring the development of Ukrainian economy was proposed, which includes: structural transformation of the industrial sector of the economy (or re-industrialization); intensification of attraction of investments (in particular, foreign ones) into the real sector; expansion of productions for agricultural raw materials processing; development of transport and logistic networks and modern warehouse complexes; increase of export potential on a qualitatively new basis; strategic planning of socio-economic development at the regional and local levels; increase of investment projects realization efficiency; overcoming monopoly and ensuring equal competitive conditions for all participants of business processes.