REUTERS
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says Ukraine will find solutions to spur economic growth, despite a 1% drop in GDP as a result of the blockade of trade with the occupied areas in Donbas.
"Ukraine has lost 1% of GDP due to the coal blockade, but we will find solutions to maintain [the economic] growth," the prime minister said at a briefing in the city of Mariupol, June 1.
Ukraine saw a 4.7% economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 after a months-long fall, which gave serious grounds to hope for further success, he said. Nevertheless, the blockade has affected the dynamics of the country's economic and industrial development.
Read alsoUkraine's economy ministry projects 1.8% GDP growth in 2017"But we don't give up, and therefore the government's task today is to create conditions for the economy to become stronger. Decent jobs and salaries, as well as competitive products are the challenges we're now facing, and we will find solutions for economic growth. We will reinvest all we've earned in raising social standards, renewal of the country, its infrastructure, education, and healthcare," Groysman said.
As UNIAN reported, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers worsened the forecast of GDP growth in Ukraine in 2017 from 3% to 1.8%, while the inflation forecast grew from 8.1% to 12.9%.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on March 16 enacted a decision by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to suspend all freight traffic, except humanitarian supplies, through the contact line in the Anti-Terrorist Operation area in the country's east.
The government estimates that the blockade will cost Ukraine 1% of GDP growth in 2017.