REUTERS
The NBU Board decided to keep the key policy rate at 17% per annum.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) may improve its forecast of Ukraine's GDP growth in 2018, as the country's indicators of economic growth in the first quarter of 2018 exceeded the regulator's expectations.
Read alsoUkraine sees 3.1% rise in real GDP in Q1 – statistics
"If the baseline scenario materializes, real GDP growth projections may be revised upward to factor in expectations of a record harvest and increased consumption," reads a statement in the summary of the May 23 discussion on the key policy rate at the NBU Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), posted on the NBU website.
At their meeting, the MPC members unanimously agreed that the key policy rate should remain unchanged, at 17% per annum.
According to the central bank, economic growth in the EU states will increase export earnings and migrant remittances, which, in turn, will stimulate domestic demand in Ukraine.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine estimated the country's real GDP growth in the first quarter of 2018 at 3.1% in annual terms.
In 2017, Ukraine's GDP grew by 2.5%.
In January, the National Bank improved its forecast of Ukraine's GDP growth in 2018 to 3.4%.
The Ukrainian government expects economic growth in 2018 at 3%.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank project Ukraine's real GDP may grow by 3.5% in 2018.