telegraf.com.ua
Ukrainian Minister for Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius says his ministry expects GDP growth in Ukraine in the fourth quarter this year due to macroeconomic stabilization.
"Slight growth of GDP has begun to show in the fourth quarter," he said after a roundtable meeting on reform of state-owned enterprises.
He also said that the forex rate of the Ukrainian hryvnia would remain stable.
"Why should it weaken? The rate will remain stable," he said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the ministry forecasts that a decline in GDP in Ukraine will continue to slow in 2015. Stabilization on the financial market and economic recovery in the country's east will be conducive to an improvement in the GDP dynamics, the ministry said.
The ministry reported about a 15.9% decline in GDP in the first half of 2015, saying that the second quarter of 2015 alone saw an improvement in the GDP dynamics for the first time since the end of 2013.
Ukraine's State Statistics Service reported that Ukraine's GDP in the second quarter of 2015 decreased by 14.7% against a 17.2% decline in the first quarter of 2015. Ukraine saw a mere 0.9% decline in GDP in the second quarter from the first quarter of 2015, whereas GDP in the first quarter fell by 5.3% from the fourth quarter of 2014.
The National Bank of Ukraine previously reported that real GDP increased by 1% in the third quarter of this year as compared with the previous quarter.
The Cabinet of Ministers developed three economic development scenarios for 2015 with the GDP decline being between 5.5% and 11.9%.
The International Monetary Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development forecast that Ukraine will see its GDP decline by 9% in 2015, while the World Bank projects a 12% GDP decrease in Ukraine this year.