Ukraine's economy grows by 8.4% in three years – Kubiv

First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv says the real gross domestic product (GDP) in Ukraine has grown by 8.4% over the last three years.

"Over the past three years, the government provided an 8.5% growth in GDP. Recently, the State Statistics Service increased its preliminary estimate of GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019 [Q1] from 2.2% to 2.5%," Kubiv said in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on June 21.

According to the official, shadow economy in Ukraine dropped by 10 percentage points (p.p.) from 2015, to 30% of the GDP.

Referring to job search websites, Kubiv added that the average salary in the country's private sector in April 2019 reached almost US$440 (in equivalent, at the rate of the National Bank of Ukraine), which means improvement in the sector.

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The official also noted the growth in the share of Ukrainian products in the European markets, to 33.5%.

In addition, financing of Ukraine's the country's military and industrial complex rose 100 times: from UAH 30 million ($1,137) in 2016 to $3.2 billion ($121 million) in 2018.

As reported earlier, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine had revised upwards its estimate of Ukraine's real GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019 from 2.2% to 2.5% year-over-year (y-o-y).

UNIAN memo. The growth of Ukraine's real gross domestic product in 2018 accelerated to 3.3%, a seven-year high, from 2.5% in 2017.

Ukraine's national budget for 2019 is based on a macroeconomic forecast with a 3% increase in real GDP.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank project a 2.7% growth in Ukraine's economy in 2019.

According to the consensus forecast compiled by UNIAN based on experts' estimates, the country's economic growth in 2019 will slow to 2.8%.