The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Ukraine to take immediate measures to control inflation, as sustained high inflation would greatly harm the country`s economy, according to Xinhua.
At a press conference in Ukraine`s Black Sea resort of Yalta on Tuesday, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn expressed the organization`s anxiety over Ukraine`s unsustainable high inflation rate.
He also called on other European countries to prevent or solve similar problems.
"Even if you live with it (high inflation rate) for a very short term, it takes a very long time afterwards to sort out the consequences," Strauss-Kahn said at another press conference Friday.
Ukraine`s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the first half of 2008 rose 15.5 percent year-on-year.
Although the government this week set its year-end inflation target to 15.9 percent for 2008 against last year`s 16.6 percent, experts estimate that Ukraine`s inflation rate this year may exceed 20 percent.
