The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) due to the blockade of trade with the certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the improvement of situation on foreign markets has revised macro indicators for 2017 and 2018, in particular, worsening the forecast for the growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for 2017 from 2.8% to 1.9%.
According to an NBU report, with reference to the decision of the extraordinary meeting of the monetary policy committee on March 20, the assessment of Ukraine’s GDP growth for 2018, on the contrary, has been improved from 3% to 3.2%.
At the same time, the National Bank confirmed the forecast for inflation for the current year at 9.1% and next year at 6%.
In connection with the blockade, the forecast for the deficit of the current account of the balance of payments for 2017 deteriorated from $3.5 billion to $4.3 billion, and for the next year from $3.4 billion to $4.3 billion.
The NBU also lowered the forecast for Ukraine’s international reserves as of the end of this year from $21.3 billion to $20.8 billion, and the next year from $27.1 billion to $25.9 billion. (Interfax-Ukraine/Business World Magazine)
