Other American students in Ukraine pursue academic work under the auspices of other foundations and privately funded programs. This includes excellent agricultural land and a substantial industrial base consisting of coal and mineral resources, and aerospace and chemical industries. Despite this wealth of resources, the Ukrainian economy has suffered badly since the nation's independence in 1991. All sectors of industry have experienced major production declines. Despite fuel shortages and shortages of fertilizers and pesticides, the 1993 harvest was significantly better than the previous few years, but a hard winter and severe droughts have cut the harvest for 1994 by about 20 percent.
Fuel supplies continue to be limited.
Small-scale privatization has begun in several cities, including Lviv, Khmelnitsky, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhyia, and State housing privatization has begun in every oblast of the country. Market-oriented reforms were introduced in 1992 and 1993 in a tentative manner. This policy has caused a decrease in industrial production in most sectors, spiraling inflation, little privatization, and overall gridlock in the economy. The former government attempted to stabilize the economy in late 1992 and early 1993. However, these attempts met with only initial success, and were soon overwhelmed by the weight of collapsing production, ruptured trade links with the former Soviet Union, and, above all, lack of the necessary political will within then-President Kravchuk's administration, the Parliament, and Cabinet of Ministers.