Political crisis threatens Ukraine's economic growth – chief banker

09:43, 10.02.2016 1 min read

The political crisis in Ukraine poses a threat to economic growth in 2016, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeriya Gontareva said at a meeting with heads of the country's 40 largest banks on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately we see the political crisis unfolding now. It makes the situation on the financial market more uncertain, affects relations between Ukraine and international partners, and poses a threat to economic growth this year. We hope very much that politicians will be able to resolve this crisis in the near future," the NBU's press service quoted Gontareva as saying.

In this connection, the NBU was forced to downgrade its real GDP growth forecast for 2016 to 1.1% from 2.4%, she said. What is more, the balance of payments is also expected worse than earlier – its deficit is projected at $2.5 billion instead of last year's balanced current account. However, the NBU did not change its forecast for inflation in 2016.

"Our forecasts did not foresee growing political instability, therefore our expectations will coincide with actual indicators only in case the political situation becomes stable," she said.