Business news from Ukraine

MACRO MONTHLY SUMMARY, MAIN STATISTICS OF UKRAINE IN APRIL 2020

12 May , 2020  

Bank of America (BofA) analysts expect a decline in Ukraine’s GDP in 2020 by 5.6%, according to a review of the investment bank.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during Freedom of Speech of Savik Shuster program on Ukraine TV Channel later on Friday presented a brief strategy of gradual weakening of the quarantine for the period from early May to early July.
The decline of Ukraine’s real GDP in 2020 could be 6-8%, the ICU investment group has said.
The lack of government support for the creative industry during the quarantine period can lead to massive unemployment in the industry and a drop in GDP, Head of the Verkhovna Rada committee for humanitarian and information policy MP Oleksandr Tkachenko has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Ukraine’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Stable from Positive and affirmed the IDR at ‘B’.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has worsened the forecast of the balance of payments in 2020 to a deficit of $1.1 billion from a surplus of $3.2 billion, but expects its surplus to be restored as early as 2021.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) revised downwards the assessment of the pace of real GDP of Ukraine for 2020 from 3.5% growth to 5% decline, while improving the expectations for its growth in 2021 from 4% to 4.3%.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the Ukrainians to continue observing quarantine restrictions throughout the May holidays so that the state authorities could begin softening the quarantine starting May 11
The drop in gross domestic product (GDP) of Ukraine in January-February 2020 amounted to 0.2%, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that the Cabinet of Ministers will present its plan and steps to restore the economy after the turning point in the development of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is seen and which the country is moving towards in a moderate and smooth pace.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects that Ukraine’s GDP would fall by 7.7% in 2020 and grow by 3.6% in 2021, according to the World Economic Outlook published by the IMF on Tuesday.
Consumer prices in Ukraine in April grew by 0.8%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
At the same time, in April last year, price growth was higher: it was 1%, therefore, inflation in April 2020 year-over-year slowed to 2.1% from 2.3% in March and 4.1% in 2019 .
The Board of the National Bank of Ukraine has decided to cut the key policy rate from 10% to 8%, the NBU said. The NBU expects that the key policy rate to be reduced further, to 7% in the current year.
Industrial production in Ukraine in March 2020 decreased by 7.7% compared to March 2019, while in February the decline was 1.5%, in January 5.1%, in December 2019 also 7.7%, the State Statistics Service has said.

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