The growth of Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2018 was 2.8 percent compared to the same period of 2017, while in the second quarter it was 3.8 percent, in the first quarter some 3.1 percent, such assessment has been posted by the State Statistics Service.
The agency said that in relation to the previous quarter, the country’s economy in the third quarter of this year (taking into account the seasonal factor) improved by 0.4 percent.
“The Ukrainian economy has been growing 11 quarters in a row … The situation is in line with the forecasts of the government and international partners,” the State Statistics Service noted in a release on the government’s website.
The National Bank of Ukraine at the beginning of November estimated GDP growth in the third quarter at 3.1 percent, retaining the growth forecast for the year at 3.4 percent. According to its expectations, next year it will slow down to 2.5 percent, and in 2020 it will accelerate to 2.9 percent.
The World Bank in early October downgraded the forecast for the growth of the Ukrainian economy in 2018 to 3.3 percent from 3.5 percent, and in 2019 to 3.5 percent from 4 percent.
A week later, the International Monetary Fund improved the forecast for Ukraine’s GDP growth by the end of 2018 to 3.5 percent from 3.2 percent. At the same time, the forecast for 2019 was worsened to 2.7 percent from 3.3 percent and for 2020 to 3.4 percent from 4 percent.
According to the consensus forecast compiled by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade in September, Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2018 is estimated at 3.1 percent, in 2019 at 3 percent.
The national budget for 2018 and the draft national budget for 2019 are built on the forecast of economic growth in these years by 3 percent annually.
