Ukraine sees GDP grow by 2% in Q4 – Economy Ministry

"In the first quarter of 2015, Ukraine saw its GDP contract by 17.2%, whereas it demonstrated a 2% growth in the fourth quarter [of 2015]," Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Yulia Kovaliv said at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Policy.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's economy shrank by 10.4% in 2015, according to the Ukrainian Economic Development and Trade Ministry, which forecasts that economic growth may be from 0.5% to 1.5% in the first half of 2016.

The National Bank of Ukraine has revised downwards its economic growth forecast for Ukraine in 2016 to 1.1% from 2.4% as previously projected. It also gave a more optimistic estimate of the country's GDP decline in 2015, posting it at 10.5% against a previous estimate of 11.6%.

Ukraine's main creditor, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), forecasts a 9% economic decline at the end of 2015 and a 2% growth in 2016. The IMF's inflation forecast coincides with that of the Ukrainian government: 45.8% in 2015 and 12% in 2016. The World Bank is a little more pessimistic in its forecasts. The Bank estimates Ukraine's economy declined by 12% in 2015, and it will grow by no more than 1% in 2016.

The experts interviewed by UNIAN are generally positive about Ukraine's prospects for leaving the contraction zone and starting growing. UNIAN's consensus forecast says that Ukraine's economy will grow by 1% next year amid a 3% increase in industrial production and 19% inflation.

Economic Development Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, who has recently submitted his letter of resignation, earlier said that the ministry had been reviewing Ukraine's main macroeconomic indicators with no large-scale collapse expected. The ministry's inflation forecast for 2016 remained unchanged, being set at 12%.