Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that the country has managed to overcome economic hardships, restore growth and start increasing income of Ukrainians.

"We proceed from belt tightening to gradual increase of Ukrainians' income. There are grounds to believe that we are over the worst in the social and economic spheres," the head of state said in Mariupol on December 31.

He said that the Ukrainian economy has overcome a shock from hostilities and the closure of the Russian market for Ukrainians goods, as well as the routes for their export to the third countries.

"This was a true commercial and transit blockade, which seriously affected the Ukrainians' standard of living," he said. "We have withstood and adapted to the new conditions, we managed to restore growth. However, we must express gratitude to the people of Ukraine, first of all for their understanding of unbiased difficulties, for their patience in times of social turmoil," Poroshenko said.

The president said that international partners of Ukraine understand that in two and a half years Ukraine had done more (reforms) than over the past two decades.

"However, it is obvious that the progress is still not enough for positive changes to be felt in full by Ukrainian society… Thus, the main task for the coming year is to create proper political conditions to speed up economic growth and reforms," he said.