Estimation of economic specialization of Ukrainian regions in the context of global trends

Abstract

The scale and deep heterogeneity of the national economy of Ukraine in the regional context make the relevance of scientific research in this thematic area. The purpose of the article is to determine the economic specialization of the regions of Ukraine by key economic activities contributing to the formation of gross value added, as well as outlining the potential risks to the national economy, taking into account the situation on world commodity markets. The results of the research showed that one of the consequences of the unstable dynamics of industrial production in Ukraine under the influence of geopolitical and macroeconomic factors is the reduction of industrial specialization of the economy of a number of Ukrainian regions. Thus, in 2017 the manufacturing was the leading economic activity (with the highest share in the gross value added created) in 11 regions, compared to 15 in 2012. So Poltava, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya regions are considered to be “highly industrial”. At the same time, the agrarian specialization of the economy of Ukraine and its regions deepened – in 2017 agriculture became the leading type of economic activity in 11 regions (compared to 7 in 2012). The most “agrarian” in Ukraine (with a share of agriculture in gross value added over 30%) in 2017 became the Kherson, Kirovohrad and Khmelnytsky regions. Increasing the level of “agrarianization” of the national economy in the context of volatility of agricultural commodity prices on the world markets poses significant risks for the socio-economic development of Ukraine and its regions. These risks are exacerbated by the high amplitude of fluctuations in the volume and structure of domestic agricultural products and the low degree of processing of raw materials. To improve the structure of domestic commodity exports (in the direction of increasing its share of products with a higher degree of processing) and to deepen its diversification, a number of measures should be carried out aimed at stimulating export activity of enterprises (industrial and agro-industrial), carrying out technical and technological re-equipment of industrial and export production bases, creation of new high-tech industries on the basis of the implementation of powerful innovation and investment projects.