fter a fall in GDP in January-September 2014 Ukraine could stabilize the indicator in the fourth quarter, and GDP will start growing from 2015, President of the European Business Association (EBA) and Dragon Capital CEO Tomas Fiala said at a presentation of Ukraine's Investment Attractiveness Index for the first quarter of 2014 on April 8.
“In the first to third quarters GDP will show decline. From the fourth quarter we expect that it will stabilize, and start growing from 2015,” he said.
Fiala said that the Ukrainian economy has preconditions for GDP growth starting from the fourth quarter, although the problems Russia creates for the country spoil this impression.
“These are the prices of gas, the restriction of Ukrainian exports to Russia and the occupation of Crimea. Russia has always created problems for Ukraine,” he said.
According to the study conducted by the EBA, after the lowest index over the whole history of its calculation in the fourth quarter of 2013 when it was 1.81 out of five points, at the end of the first quarter of 2014 the index grew to 2.72, which is the highest indicator since 2011.
The Investment Attractiveness Index was conducted by the EBA with the support of InMind research company. The EBA Investment Attractiveness Index is assessed as the mean value based on five questions. 105 CEOs of companies that are members of the EBA were polled.
