REUTERS
Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk says a negative impact of the blockade of trade with Russian-occupied Donbas on Ukraine's economy is preliminarily estimated at 1.3% of GDP.
"This is a base-case scenario, but the figure may be even higher, up to 2%," the minister told journalists on March 16.
At the same time, Danyliuk noted that the Finance Ministry would analyze other possible economic losses of the country in detail before the end of the day.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko instructed Minister Danyliuk to calculate Ukraine's losses from the blockade.
Read alsoFinance ministry to calculate Ukraine's losses from blockade of occupied DonbasIn late January, a group of Donbas war veterans and some Members of Parliament initiated a blockade of rail tracks used to transport anthracite coal from the temporarily uncontrolled areas, which caused an anthracite shortage in Ukraine. On February 15, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced emergency measures in the electric power industry, which reduced anthracite consumption by thermal power plants and prevented power supplies problems.
Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman were critical of the trade blockade.
According to the Ukrainian steelmakers' association Ukrmetprom, the blockade may result in at least $3.5 billion in losses in metallurgical and related industries alone by the end of the year.
On March 1, the Cabinet introduced rules for transportation of goods through the contact line to settle the situation: only humanitarian freight, as well as goods required to ensure operations of the ore-mining and processing sector, metallurgy, coal production, and the energy sector were allowed for crossing the contact line in the ATO zone.
Read alsoSeizure of enterprises in "DPR," "LPR" destroyed Ukraine there - PoroshenkoOn March 14, Poroshenko said that a number of Ukrainian enterprises in the occupied areas had been illegally seized by the so-called authorities of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics. In his words, Ukraine cannot have any economic ties with these entities until control of them is retaken.
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine at a meeting on March 15 decided to temporarily ban movement of goods through the contact line in the ATO zone until the seized assets estimated at $2 billion are returned under Ukraine's jurisdiction.