Key trends in the development of mechanical engineering in Ukraine

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the state of and trends in the Ukrainian mechanical engineering industry based on selected key economic indicators.  The industry is characterised by unstable, negative dynamics and falling production volumes, a rapid decrease in the volume and share of implemented innovative products, a significant reduction in the number of manufactured motor vehicles, an insignificant volume of high-tech products, a reduction in capital investments and a high level of depreciation of fixed tangible assets, extremely low labour productivity, a rapid decline in the number of employed workers, relatively low wages, a deterioration of the external balance. The authors view the current economic trends as destructive systemic changes that can significantly affect not only the activity of the machine-building industry but of the country as a whole. They highlight the critical state of the domestic mechanical engineering industry caused by a long period of inaction on the part of the state as regards the development of this industrial sector, which is only exacerbated by the military and hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The authors propose ways of overcoming these negative tendencies.