According to Mr Ruslan Piontkovsky senior economist at the World Bank mission in Ukraine, the World Bank has worsened its outlook for GDP growth in Ukraine in 2012 to 2.5%.

He said that "Ukraine is entering a period of decrease in external demand, a more complicated access to finance, volatility in international markets. The main challenges are expected from the outside."

In 2013, according to Mr Piontkovsky the external environment is expected to improve, and growth of Ukraine's GDP will return to the level of 4%. According to the updated outlook of the World Bank, the 2012 inflation in Ukraine is expected to reach 9.4%, whereas the previous projected figure was 10%. A reminder that in the draft state budget 2012 which is now being considered by parliament, the GDP growth stands at 3.9% inflation 7.9%.

(Sourced from www.nrcu.gov.ua)