Abstract:

The quality of a country’s governance and public administration is a key factor in its economic performance and the well-being of its citizens. The objective of the paper is two-fold: first, to substantiate the importance of the good and strong state governance for efficient functioning of the national economy; second, to analyze the basic indicators of Ukraine’s economy and its foreign trade, as well as to come up with the possible solutions to the identified problems. Methodology. Careful reading and examination of the conclusions made in theoretical and empirical works on state governance and government regulation by the Ukrainian and foreign scholars served the basis of the research at the initial stage. The data, taken from the official site of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, served as the information source for using various methods, e.g.: mathematical, statistical, etc., which resulted in the analysis of the trends of the basic indicators of the economy of Ukraine and its foreign trade: GDP and gross external debt, exports/imports/turnover of goods/services and goods and services taken together; dynamics of the balance of trade in goods/services, as well as goods and services taken together; exports to imports ratio (goods and services). Results. The share of exports of goods in all exports of goods and services of Ukraine has been increasing and in 2021 it reached 84%. The results show that: first, the trend of the volume of exports of goods for the period of 2016-2021 is y=5.11x+31.177 while that of services for the same period is y=0.5986x+9.9367; second, the balance of trade in goods has been negative since 2005 (except 2015), and continues to be negative throughout the analyzed period; third, the share of the goods with high-added value in exports has been declining. The in-depth analysis allows to conclude that in the conditions of the growing gross external debt of Ukraine (e.g., for the period of 2006 –2021 the trend is y=2811.1x+90308 while that of GDP for the same period is y=823.65x+135155) it is essential: firstly, to follow the trade strategy of the EU which focuses on exports of services as compared to goods; secondly, to improve the commodity composition of exports so that the goods are value-competitive as opposed to price-competitive. Practical implications. It’s substantiated that the trade policy is to be formulated and implemented so that foreign economic activity of Ukraine is more services-oriented and science-and-technology based. Value/originality. The country is to occupy a more decent place in the world division of labor and is to be reintegrated into the world economy in the interests of the Ukrainian people.

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