The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects the Ukrainian economy to grow in the current year by 1.5% and the growth will accelerate to 2% next year.

According to the bank's updated forecast, compared to May this year the forecast for 2016 was downgraded by 0.5 percentage points, while for 2017 it was retained unchanged.

"Ukraine's economy resumed growth in the first half of 2016 after a total fall of GDP by 16% over the previous two years. Bad loans remain an acute problem for Ukraine," the bank said.

The bank said over the year the share of non-performing loans increased by 6 percentage points and reached 3% in June this year.

In general, the EBRD's forecast for the region for 2016 was improved by 0.2 percentage points, to 1.6%, while for the next year maintained at 2.5%.