According to a survey by the Razumkov Center, in January 2024, the share of those who believe that the situation will change for the better within the next three months decreased to almost 7%, which is almost half the number in February-March 2023, when 13% of respondents said they believed in improvement. At the same time, the share of those who believe in changes for the worse increased from 23% at the beginning of 2023 to 33% in January 2024.
Such pessimism did not arise out of nowhere. First, the war dragged on. And this is causing enormous damage to the Ukrainian economy. Enterprises and infrastructure have been destroyed, and logistics chains have been disrupted. The war creates great economic uncertainty. Business does not know what will happen tomorrow, so it does not invest in development. This slows down economic growth.
The war leads to a deterioration of social conditions . Poverty is growing, the number of people in need of assistance is increasing. Everything could have been even worse, but because of the war, about 10 million people left Ukraine, and care for them fell on the shoulders of other states. But this means that Ukraine is losing its workforce and consumers. Another reason for pessimism is continuous corruption. It undermines people's trust in the authorities. And the icing on the cake is uncertainty about financial assistance from the United States, which is vital for the Ukrainian budget.
To boost the economic expectations of Ukrainians, the government needs to support businesses so they can create new jobs and invest in development. And not abandon people affected by the war to their fate so they can return to normal life.
