The majority of Sverdlovsk's industries have been privatized. Seventy five percent of enterprises are at least partially privately owned. Over three-quarters of retail sales and industrial output is generated by private enterprise. Services have grown to 40 percent of oblast GDP, up from only 16 percent in 1992. More than 25,000 small businesses are registered in the oblast.
Small businesses comprise about one-third of the construction, trade and food service sectors.
Russia's nationwide financial crisis, which began in August 1998, hit Yekaterinburg hard, just as it did other big cities. Industrial output began to show its first signs of recovery in spring 1999. Industry and Natural Resources Sverdlovvsk Oblast, like most of the Urals region, possesses abundant natural resources. It is one of Russia's leaders in mineral extraction. Sverdlovsk has the largest GDP of any oblast in the Urals.