The Economic Development and Trade Ministry predicts that Ukraine's GDP will grow by 3.5% in 2017, and not by 4% as it was projected earlier, Deputy Minister Yulia Kovaliv told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"I want to specify: 3.5% is our expectation for GDP growth for next year," she said.

Kovaliv added that GDP would grow thanks to the increase in consumption and industrial production growth.

"Consumption will grow. We have increased social standards from May 1. Later they will be increased by 10%. Pension taxation is revoked. We see growth of industrial production by 3.7% in the first three months of this year. We have not seen this for the past two years," she said.