The sharp deterioration of the situation in Ukraine's east has forced Kyiv to revise the forecast of the GDP fall in 2014, head of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Hontareva has said.
“I believe it will be minus 9 percent. Or even minus 10 percent,” she said on the sidelines of the 11th YES Forum in Kyiv on Friday, Sep. 12.
It was reported that during the first revision of the stand-by program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the forecast of Ukraine’s GDP drop in 2014 was downgraded from 5 percent to 6.5 percent.
“The economic situation is deteriorating dramatically because of Russia’s invasion. Perhaps, the military aggression is not such a success, but they have succeeded greatly in destroying our infrastructure and industry: we see a shortage of raw materials and funds,” Hontareva explained the situation.
She recalled that the conflict-torn east accounted for about 20 percent of the country’s economy.
At the same time, the NBU head stressed that the program of cooperation with the IMF allows preventing default of the country. “There is no reason to consider [debt] restructuring,” Hontareva said.
