KYIV. Dec 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine is an attractive state for the investors looking for a place to accommodate new shared service centers (SSC) or intending to launch business processes outsourcing (BPO) operations, KPMG experts believe.
Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk recognized the most attractive destinations in this ranking given availability and low cost of the qualified labor force, existence of developed infrastructure, real estate market and convenient geographical position, the company said.
“Ukraine’s key advantages in terms of establishment of an SSC include its geographical position and ability to offer significant resources of young and highly qualified labor force,” Director of Audit at KPMG in Ukraine Roman Koutsak said.
He said that investors search for the places where the labor costs are and will remain controllable in the mid-term perspective. The average monthly wage of $220 is the lowest in Europe.
Despite being one of the largest countries in terms of territory and people in the region, along with its abundant resources, Ukraine has often lagged behind more mature markets like Poland or the Czech Republic. However, these countries are becoming more expensive, KPMG said.
The additional advantages in Ukraine are visa-free regime for the citizens of the United States, EU countries and several other developed nations. Ukrainian students are bilingual (native Ukrainian and Russian) and have a good command of other foreign languages, and Ukraine is in the possession of the modern digital communications infrastructure meeting all requirements of the investors.
Commercial office spaces are offered in all major Ukrainian cities at the rates significantly lower than in the neighboring countries. In 2017, Ukraine occupied the 80th and the 20th position among 190 countries according to the rankings of the ease of doing and launch of business, respectively (World Bank’s Doing Business Report).
In addition, the depreciation of the hryvnia caused significant reduction in the tax and regulatory costs in Ukraine.
Ukraine has already turned into the country of choice for IT outsourcing: more than 500 outsourcing companies and 100 global R&D centers launched their operations in the country.
In 2017, Ukraine ranked number two in terms of pace of growth of its outsourcing attractiveness, according to A.T. Kearney (17 positions up).
