The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has reviewed downwards the forecast for real GDP growth of Ukraine in 2017 from 1.95 percent to 1.6 percent, retaining inflation forecast at 9.1 percent.
The central bank said in a press release on July 6 that the GDP growth assessments for 2018 and 2019 were not changed, being 3.2 percent and 4 percent respectively.
The forecasts for NBU’s expectations regarding underlying inflation improved: the forecast for 2017 was changed from 6.5 percent to 6.1 percent, for 2018 – from 4.3 percent to 3.9 percent and for 2019 – from 3.7 percent to 2.8 percent.
The central bank also slightly revised the forecasts for the key indicators of the balance of payments: the forecast for the deficit of the current account was decreased from $4.3 billion to $4.1 billion, while in 2018 it was increased from $4.3 billion to $4.6 billion. In 2019, the NBU projects that the deficit of the current account will be $3.9 billion instead of the previous forecast of $4.3 billion.
As for the consolidated balance of payment, the forecast for its surplus for 2017 was worsened from $700 million to $1.8 billion, while for 2018 and 2019 it was improved: to $2.5 billion from $3.2 billion and from $500 million to $100 million respectively.
