Economic review in May 2025. What Awaits Ukraine’s IT Sector?

Since March 2022, the Centre for Economic Strategy (CES), together with the German Economic Team (GET), has been preparing monthly reviews of Ukraine’s economy during a full-scale war.  All notes can be found under the link.

Key changes in the Ukrainian economy in May:

• Monetary, FX, and banking sectors: Inflation hits 15.1%, key policy rate steady at 15.5%. Ukraine’s strong reserves and a weakening dollar have reignited debate over shifting to the euro as a base currency, though such a move remains a longer-term prospect due to current reserve composition and NBU practices.
• Fiscal sector: The state budget received UAH 135 bn of taxes in April, up 24% y-o-y. Domestic VAT revenue growth outpaces imports VAT in 2025 so far and excises now bring almost every fifth hryvnia. War-related expenditures funded from the state’s own resources are steadily increasing since Jan 2025.
• Sectoral analysis: Ukraine became a net electricity exporter in late April. The transition to the European voltage standard is expected to take place on 1 July. Pig iron production hits wartime high in April. Growth in steel and rolled steel output helped match 2024 levels in 4m2025. Sunflower oil — the main export commodity in 4m2025. Top 3 goods account for over 70% of agri exports, with raising share of soybeans.
• Special topic: IT sector share in Ukraine’s economy estimated at 3-4%. Only 2 out of 10 largest companies increased their staff in 2H2024. IT exports rebounds after hitting 4-year low in January. IT share in services export reached 42% for the first time since June 2023

See our report below for further details.

Invited speakers:

• Viktor Shalnev, CEO of NIХ.
• Garry Poluschkin, Project Manager GET in Ukraine.
• Iryna Ippolitova, analyst at DOU.
• Oleksandr Medovyi, CEO of AltexSoft LLC, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kharkiv IT Cluster.

Moderator: Taras Mishchenko, Editor-in-Chief of Mezha.Media.

Media partner — Mezha.Media