Britain's exit the European Union (Brexit) could indirectly weaken the Ukrainian economy and the economies of other countries from the region where the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) operates, EBRD Chief Economist Sergei Guriev has said.

"Indirect impact will be much larger than direct impact… it is not catastrophic but I think we should be aware it is not trivial," he said at a press conference on Thursday.

Guriev said that relevant expectations are linked to anticipated lower living standards in Western Europe after Brexit.

"The integration between the Western Europe and UK is very deep and breaking those links will actually have a major impact, and of course countries like Ukraine are now increasingly integrated in Europe. So lower living standards in Western Europe will affect demand for Ukrainian exports, investments into Ukraine and potentially also transfers to Ukraine. In this particular case it is not the EU transfers for new EU members, but may be other financial flows as well," he said.

As reported, EBRD projects that Ukraine's economy this year will grow by 1.5% and slightly accelerate to 2% next year.

The bank pointed out the acutest problem for Ukraine today – non-performing loans, which share grew by 6 percentage points and reached 30% as of June 2016.