What is economics?

Consumer in our economy

Consumers are people who buy goods and services for their own use or consumption and not for resale. Consumers are now recognized as an important group – the government has passed laws to safeguard the interests of the consumer. An organized movement (consumerism) for consumer protection has emerged in the last 40 years.

Consumerism consists of all those activities that are undertaken to protect the rights of consumers in their dealings with business. There exist four basic rights of consumers: the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose and the right to be heard. Manufactures investigate consumer tastes using market research.      

Economic systems

MONEY

Banks and business

It is an open secret that banks are the most important link in the world of money. This is because, first of all, banks nowadays perform the main part of the work of transferring money from a customer to a seller, by operating the system of payments in the economy. Almost everyone in the world uses or has used banking services. Families keep their savings there, and banks pay them interest rates on their deposits and give them loans to buy expensive goods. Companies conduct payments through them. Commercial organizations, which work at the market and in production, take loans for their needs and conduct all payments with buyers and sellers through them. Landowners and owners of real estate take loans from the banks to buy an estate or to make use of it and pay back loaned money.

Banking services

The various services provided by banks are summarized bellow.

• The provision of safe deposit facilities for money and valuables.

• The lending of money: this is the most profitable activity of the banks and the one which provides most of their income.

• The provision of efficient money transmission services (e.g. cheques, credit cards).

• A credit card enables the holder to buy goods and repay the credit card issuer at a later date.

• A loan is an amount money borrowed from the bank which must be repaid at a fixed rate of interest.

• A mortgage is a loan to buy property

• An overdraft is a loan made by a bank to a customer with a purpose taking out more money than is actually in a bank account.

• A foreign exchange service is the facility to change money from one currency to another.

In addition to these basic functions, modern banks provide a wide range

of other financial services.

Opening a bank account

Nearly 100 Ukrainian Banks are authorized to deal in foreign currency.

The process for opening a bank account in Ukraine is regulated by the May 1996 National Bank of Ukraine's (NBU) instruction «On the Procedure of Opening Accounts in the National or Foreign Currency of Ukraine.» Holders of hard currency accounts must also have another account denominated in hryvnia, the Ukrainian currency.

Types of Accounts

Several types of bank accounts are authorized under the NBU instruction. There are several accounts categories for individuals and commercial entities and one for those that are not fully resident in Ukraine. Resident entities are entitled to maintain «settlement,» «current,» «loan,» «deposit,» and «budget» accounts. The settlement account is used to make payments that are allowed in the account holder's charter. It can also be used to transfer funds to and from foreign entities. Companies usually open at least two settlement accounts, one in a hard currency, and another in domestic currency. Current accounts are essentially the same as settlement accounts but are intended for use by non-commercial entities. Loan accounts are for administering borrowed or loaned funds. The deposit account is used as a savings account. The budget account is for receiving funds from Ukrainian government authorities.

Opening an account is relatively inexpensive, the cost depending on the bank and the type of account. Hard currency accounts can cost up to $150. Fees for opening hryvnia accounts are lower.