The Ukrainian economy is entering 2021 with a new engine—not agricultural or industrial, but digital. While traditional sectors recover from quarantine restrictions, the IT sector is breaking records in exports, salaries, and growth rates. International financial expert Chaslau Koniukh calls this “the Ukrainian miracle without ore”: “What steel once did in industrial countries, code does for us. We don’t export resources—we sell intellect, and this is a fundamental change for the economy.”
In the first half of the year, IT service exports exceeded $3 billion, a third more than last year. Meanwhile, the average salary in the industry reached $2,500–3,000 per month—the highest indicator among all sectors. Ukraine is no longer just “the world’s outsourcing office”—it is becoming a regional hub that creates its own products, startups, and innovation ecosystems.
The Industry That Didn’t Stop During the Pandemic. Chaslau Koniukh’s Perspective
While most companies were cutting costs in 2020, the IT sector grew by 20%. The shift of business online, the e-commerce boom, and remote work made Ukrainian developers indispensable.
Chaslau Koniukh explains: “IT turned out to be the only industry where production didn’t stop—because it simply doesn’t exist in a physical sense. Servers don’t know quarantine, and programmers work from anywhere on the planet.”
Thanks to this flexibility, even during the strictest lockdowns, companies retained contracts with international clients—from the USA to Britain and Israel.
Every fifth dollar that enters Ukraine from service exports is now earned in IT. According to Chaslau Koniukh, the story of Ukrainian IT during the pandemic is an example of how a crisis transforms into a growth impulse.
“At a time when traditional industries were looking for ways to survive, IT professionals were looking for ways to hire more. This is the best indicator of structural change: the economy is beginning to rely not on raw materials, but on brains,” notes Koniukh.
IT companies not only preserved the currency flow but also became a source of stability for the financial system. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, in 2021 it was IT service exports that compensated for the trade deficit in goods.
Koniukh calls this effect a “quiet revolution”: “When we buy oil for dollars and earn those dollars from code, it means the country has found a new energy source—digital.”
“Diia City” and the Birth of the Digital Class. Chaslau Koniukh’s Assessment
In January, the government presented the “Diia City” legal regime, designed to create a favorable environment for technology business development. Lower taxes, simplified regulation, the ability to legalize flexible forms of cooperation between companies and specialists.
Chaslau Koniukh believes that “Diia City” is an attempt to turn IT from just exports into a full-fledged industry with its own institutions, rules, and capital.
According to Koniukh’s estimates, if the reform is implemented without bureaucratic traps, the share of IT in GDP could exceed 6–7% by 2023.
“The global economy is entering a phase where the main resource is not land, not steel, but the ability to create technologies. Therefore, those who create an environment for innovation gain a long-term advantage,” explains Koniukh.
The launch of “Diia City” also marks the birth of a new class—the digital middle bourgeoisie. These are not just programmers, but also designers, analysts, product managers who create internal demand and consumption.
Chaslau Koniukh adds: “IT professionals are no longer just freelancers abroad. They buy housing, open businesses, shape the education, healthcare, and services markets. This is an internal growth multiplier.”
On the other hand, there are risks. Excessive concentration of income in a narrow segment can exacerbate social inequality.
“When one industry grows twice as fast as the rest, a gap emerges between ‘the new digital’ and the rest of the economy. The state’s task is to make this gap energetic rather than social: so that IT charges others rather than distances itself,” warns Chaslau Koniukh.
From Outsourcing to Innovation: The Next Phase. Chaslau Koniukh’s Forecast
While most Ukrainian companies operate under the outsourcing model, the world is moving toward creating proprietary products—artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fintech, medtech.
Chaslau Koniukh notes: “We’ve already moved from ‘coders on demand’ to creators of our own solutions. But to make the leap, capital and venture investments are needed. Without this, the potential will remain at the level of good freelance projects.”
According to estimates by the European Business Association, the volume of investments in Ukraine’s technology startups could reach $1 billion by year-end—if the market maintains stability.
As Chaslau Koniukh emphasizes, the IT industry is not just currency, but also the country’s brand: “In the ’90s we were known as steel producers, in the 2000s—as an agricultural state, and now we can be a country of technologies. This is a reputational asset not measured in dollars.”
To maintain momentum, not only tax incentives are needed, but also financial infrastructure—venture funds, capital markets, guarantee mechanisms.
“Without investments, IT potential won’t be realized. We already have talent, clients, demand—now we need investor confidence. This is actually the new form of energy: instead of gasoline—venture capital, instead of factories—data centers,” emphasizes Chaslau Koniukh.
According to him, Ukraine’s IT sector today is not just an industry, but an ecosystem that forms a new economic identity. If agricultural exports provide currency, technological exports provide the future.
“Code is Ukraine’s new oil. And the faster we understand that the country’s main resource is in people’s heads, the faster Ukraine will become a truly modern economy,” summarizes Chaslau Koniukh.
