REUTERS
Growth of prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages in Ukraine in December 2016 against December 2015 slowed to 3.3% from 42% recorded in December 2015 against December 2014, according to chief economist at Dragon Capital Olena Bilan.
"The dynamics of food prices over the year were modest: prices of food and soft drinks rose only by 3.3% [in December 2016 against December 2015] as compared to 42% in [December] 2015 and 25% in [December] 2014," the expert said.
According to Bilan, the slowdown of this indicator was due to the stabilization of the national currency, a good harvest of crops and an increase in the supply of some types of food on the domestic market due to trade restrictions introduced by Russia.
Read alsoUkraine economy in 2017: more growth, less inflationIn general, prices of consumer goods in Ukraine grew by 12.4% in December 2016 from December 2015 and 43.3% in December 2015 from December 2014, she said. The prices rose by 0.9% in December 2016 from November 2016 against 1.8% in November 2016 from October 2016.
Housing and utilities services remained the main components that fueled inflation in Ukraine in 2016, in particular, the price of gas for Ukrainian households soared by 8.6 times in the past three years, Bilan said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, inflation in Ukraine in 2016 was 12.4%, the minimum level recorded in the past two years.
Key rating agencies predicted inflation in Ukraine in 2016 at 14% and in 2017-2018 at 8-9.5%.