Ukraine Has Lost Billions On The Trade Agreement With The EU In Year One

The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) between Ukraine and the European Union, which came into force on 1 January 2016, was aimed at helping the East European economy to recover; however, the results after the first year fell far short of Ukraine’s expectations. The former Soviet Republic lost 2.2 billion more than it lost in 2015 on trade with the EU. While imports from the EU have surged, exports have barely grown.
As Polish media reports, the European Union has flooded Ukraine with goods, which is contrary to the aim of the free trade agreement: the document assumed the asymmetric openness of the markets in Ukraine’s favour.
According to the Eurostat data, EU’s exports to Ukraine grew in 2016 by 17.6%, from 14bn to 16.5bn, whereas Ukraine’s exports to the EU increased by 1.9%, i.e. from 12.8bn to 13bn. As a result, Ukraine’s trade deficit with the EU has surged from 1.2bn to 3.43bn!

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Mar 7, 2017.