Economy ministry reports 2.1% GDP decline in Jan

09:19, 05.03.2016 1 min read

The composite index of goods and services production in Ukraine in January 2016 decreased by 2.8% year-over-year, while GDP declined by 2.1%, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry said on Friday.

"The current year has continued testing the economy's strength. A new round of economic aggression by the Russian Federation has been added to the existing factors (a further drop in world prices on key export-oriented markets, sluggish domestic demand)," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia's trade and transit restrictions in January affected the Ukrainian industry most, it said.

"As a result, two quarters' growth of GDP made a U-turn for recession at the beginning of 2016," the ministry said.

Therefore, the ministry reviewed downwards its forecast for GDP dynamics in Ukraine in the first half of 2016 from 1% +/- 0.5 percentage points (pp) to 0% +/- 0.5 pp.