Ukraine's economic growth could accelerate this year on higher exports as external conditions improve, the Ukrainian central bank said.
Ukraine's gross domestic product may rise as much as 5 percent in 2011, compared with 4.2 percent in 2010, the bank said late last week in a statement on its web site.
The economy may grow between 4 percent and 5 percent in 2012, according to the statement.
The country returned to growth last year after contracting 14.8 percent in 2009. GDP grew 6.5 percent in the first two months of this year, the central bank said.
Inflation this year should be in a range of 9 percent to 11 percent before slowing to 6 percent to 8 percent in 2012, the bank said.
Ukraine's current-account gap will probably widen to 3.6 percent of GDP this year, compared with 2.1 percent in 2010 and 2.5 percent estimated by the central bank for this year in January. The central bank sees Ukraine's foreign direct investments at $6.5 billion this year and $7.5 billion next year.
(Bloomberg)
