OREANDA-NEWS. On 7 February 2008 Dimitry Sologoub, Raiffeisen Bank Aval analyst said, that overall effect of WTO accession on the Ukrainian economy will be positive stimulating GDP growth and raising consumer welfare.

"WTO accession will not have immediate effect on macroeconomic performance in Ukraine, but it’s an important political step", the analyst added. In general, there are several positive and negative consequences of the WTO accession. On the positive side, WTO membership will improve investor’s sentiment for the Ukrainian economy. Also, the accession to WTO will strengthen the positions of Ukrainian exporters (first of all steel and chemical producers) as they will be less exposed to anti-dumping investigations.

Finally, upon the accession to WTO Ukraine is to launch talks on a free trade agreement with the European Union. This agreement is considered a very important element of Ukraine’s European integration strategy (albeit these talks might last for 5 or even more years).

Nevertheless, certain sectors might lose as a result of WTO accession. Specifically, domestic food, textile and automobile producers would be worse off due to the reduction of import duties given the low competitiveness of Ukrainian companies in these sectors. However, in opinion of Dimitry Sologoub, in the longer-run domestic producers (first of all in food industry) will benefit from WTO accession since higher production standards (in line with the WTO rules) will help to promote the export of Ukrainian goods.