Ukraine's economy is gradually coming out of crisis, says President of the Centre for Economic Development Oleksandr Paskhaver.
“I think the crisis in Ukraine is over… We’re growing, we’ve stopped falling. We’re growing slower than last year,” he said at a press conference on the macroeconomic situation in Ukraine in the first half of 2009, held at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
According to the expert, production in the real sectors of the economy stopped falling in the January-February period and in other branches in March. If Ukraine’s GDP in the first quarter of 2009 fell by 20.3% year-over-year, in the second quarter it dropped by 18%, according to rough estimates.
“No doubt, the economy is recovering… The branches that are in the vanguard are getting recovered faster, and then they are pulling others out… The recovery continues for four or five months so far,” he said.
At the same time, he said, consumer demand in the country remains low, which is predetermined by the fact that people do not trust in state institutions, the hryvnia, as well as by a decline in wages and salaries.
As Paskhaver said, amid the crisis many countries are encouraging consumer demand, while Ukraine does not take any measure to do this. Among other considerable risks for the economy in addition to a decline in consumer demand are also a halt to issuing bank loans and a slow adjustment of export dynamics, he added.
