Overview: After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union producing more than three times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities of meat, milk, grain and vegetables to other republics. Likewise, its diversified heavy industry supplied equipment and raw materials to industrial and mining sites in other regions of the former USSR. In 1992 the Ukrainian Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatizing state enterprises while retaining many central economic controls and continuing subsidies to state production enterprises. In November 1992 the new Prime Minister KUCHMA launched a new economic reform program promising more freedom to the agricultural sector, faster privatization of small and medium enterprises, and stricter control over state subsidies. In 1993, however, severe internal political disputes over the scope and pace of economic reform and payment arrears on energy imports have led to further declines in output, and inflation of 50% or more per month by the last quarter. In first quarter 1994, national income and industrial output were less than two-thirds the first quarter 1993 figures, according to official statistics. At the same time an increasing number of people are developing small private businesses and exploiting opportunities in non-official markets. Even so, the magnitude of the problems and the slow pace in building new market-oriented institutions preclude a near-term recovery of output to the 1990 level. A vital economic concern in 1994 will continue to be Russia's decisions on the prices and quantities of oil and gas to be shipped to the Ukraine. National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $205.4 billion (1993 estimate from the UN International Comparison Program, as extended to 1991 and published in the World Bank's World Development Report 1993; and as extrapolated to 1993 using official Ukrainian statistics, which are very uncertain because of major economic changes since 1990) National product real growth rate: -16% (1993 est.) National product per capita: $3,960 (1993 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 45% per month (1993) Unemployment rate: 0.4% officially registered; large number of unregistered or underemployed workers Budget: revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA Exports: $3 billion to countries outside of the FSU (1993) commodities: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, grain, meat partners: FSU countries, Germany, China, Austria Imports: $2.2 billion from outside of the FSU countries (1993) commodities: machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, textiles partners: FSU countries, Germany, China, Austria External debt: $NA Industrial production: growth rate -14% (1993); accounts for 50% of GDP Electricity: capacity: 55,882,000 kW production: 281 billion kWh consumption per capita: 5,410 kWh (1992) Industries: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food-processing (especially sugar) Agriculture: accounts for about 25% of GDP; grain, vegetables, meat, milk, sugar beets Illicit drugs: illicit cultivator of cannabis and opium poppy; mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication program; used as transshipment points for illicit drugs to Western Europe Economic aid: $350 million economic aid and $350 million to help disassemble the atomic weapons from the US in 1994 Currency: Ukraine withdrew the Russian ruble from circulation on 12 November 1992 and declared the karbovanets (plural karbovantsi) sole legal tender in Ukrainian markets; Ukrainian officials claim this is an interim move toward introducing a new currency - the hryvnya - possibly in mid-1994 Exchange rates: NA Fiscal year: calendar year
@Ukraine, Communications
Railroads:
23,350 km (1,524-mm gauge); 8,600 km electrified
Highways:
total:
273,700 km
paved and gravel:
236,400 km
unpaved:
earth 37,300 km
Inland waterways:
1,672 km perennially navigable (Pryp''yat' and Dnipro Rivers)
Pipelines:
crude oil 2,010 km; petroleum products 1,920 km; natural gas 7,800 km
(1992)
Ports:
coastal - Berdyans'k, Illichivs'k, Kerch, Kherson, Mariupol',
Mykolayiv, Odesa, Sevastopol', Pivdenne; inland - Kiev (Kyyiv)
Merchant marine:
390 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,932,009 GRT/5,236,134 DWT,
barge carriers 7, bulk cargo 55, cargo 231, chemical tanker 2,
container 18, liquefied gas 1, multi-function-large-load-carrier 1,
oil tanker 10, passenger 12, passenger cargo 5, railcar carrier 2,
refrigerated cargo 5, roll-on/roll-off cargo 33, short-sea passenger 8
Airports:
total:
694
usable:
199
with permanent-surface runways:
111
with runways over 3,659 m:
3
with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
81
with runways 1,060-2,439 m:
78
note:
a C-130 can land on a 1,060-m airstrip
Telecommunications:
the telephone system is inadequate both for business and for personal
use; about 7,886,000 telephone circuits serve 52,056,000 people
(1991); telephone density is 151.4 telephone circuits per 1,000
persons (1991); 3.56 million applications for telephones had not been
satisfied as of January 1991; calls to other CIS countries are carried
by land line or microwave; other international calls to 167 countries
are carried by satellite or by the 150 leased lines through the Moscow
gateway switch; an NMT-450 analog cellular telephone network operates
in Kiev (Kyyiv) and allows direct dialing of international calls
through Kiev's EWSD digital exchange; electronic mail services have
been established in Kiev, Odessa, and Lugansk by Sprint; satellite
earth stations employ INTELSAT, INMARSAT, and Intersputnik
@Ukraine, Defense Forces
Branches:
Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces, Republic Security Forces
(internal and border troops), National Guard
Manpower availability:
males age 15-49 12,191,984; fit for military service 9,591,276; reach
military age (18) annually 364,676 (1994 est.)
Defense expenditures:
544,256 million karbovantsi, NA% of GDP (forecast for 1993); note -
conversion of the military budget into US dollars using the current
exchange rate could produce misleading results
@United Arab Emirates, Geography
Location:
Middle East, along the Persian Gulf, between Oman and Saudi Arabia
Map references:
Middle East, Standard Time Zones of the World
Area:
total area:
75,581 sq km
land area:
75,581 sq km
comparative area:
slightly smaller than Maine
Land boundaries:
total 867 km, Oman 410 km, Saudi Arabia 457 km
Coastline:
1,318 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf:
defined by bilateral boundaries or equidistant line
exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
territorial sea:
3 nm assumed for most of country; 12 nm for Ash Shariqah (Sharjah)
International disputes:
location and status of boundary with Saudi Arabia is not final; no
defined boundary with most of Oman, but Administrative Line in far
north; claims two islands in the Persian Gulf occupied by Iran
(Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg or Greater Tunb, and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e
Kuchek or Lesser Tunb); claims island in the Persian Gulf jointly
administered with Iran (Jazireh-ye Abu Musa or Abu Musa); in 1992, the
dispute over Abu Musa and the Tunb islands became more acute when Iran
unilaterally tried to control the entry of third country nationals
into the UAE portion of Abu Musa island, Tehran subsequently backed
off in the face of significant diplomatic support for the UAE in the
region
Climate:
desert; cooler in eastern mountains
Terrain:
flat, barren coastal plain merging into rolling sand dunes of vast
desert wasteland; mountains in east
Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas
Land use:
arable land:
0%
permanent crops:
0%
meadows and pastures:
2%
forest and woodland:
0%
other:
98%
Irrigated land:
50 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues:
lack of natural freshwater resources being overcome by desalination
plants; desertification; beach pollution from oil spills
natural hazards:
frequent dust and sand storms
international agreements:
party to - Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone
Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity, Law of the
Sea
Note:
strategic location along southern approaches to Strait of Hormuz, a
vital transit point for world crude oil
@United Arab Emirates, People
Population: 2,791,141 (July 1994 est.) Population growth rate: 4.79% (1994 est.) Birth rate: 27.68 births/1,000 population (1994 est.) Death rate: 3.05 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.) Net migration rate: 23.31 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.) Infant mortality rate: 21.7 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 72.26 years male: 70.16 years female: 74.46 years (1994 est.) Total fertility rate: 4.6 children born/woman (1994 est.) Nationality: noun: Emirian(s) adjective: Emirian Ethnic divisions: Emirian 19%, other Arab 23%, South Asian 50%, other expatriates (includes Westerners and East Asians) 8% (1982) note: less than 20% are UAE citizens (1982) Religions: Muslim 96% (Shi'a 16%), Christian, Hindu, and other 4% Languages: Arabic (official), Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu Literacy: age 10 and over but definition of literacy not available (1980) total population: 68% male: 70% female: 63% Labor force: 580,000 (1986 est.) by occupation: industry and commerce 85%, agriculture 5%, services 5%, government 5% note: 80% of labor force is foreign (est.)
@United Arab Emirates, Government