Economic growth in Ukraine in 2017 could exceed the forecast of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), published in the inflation report for July 2017, the NBU has said.

"In general, the current dynamics of the real sector indicators and the results of the first half of 2017 demonstrate an increase in the probability that economic growth in 2017 will exceed the forecast of the National Bank (1.6% year-on-year) announced in the inflation report for July 2017," the report says.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine, an insignificant slowdown in economic growth will continue in the second half of this year.

"At the same time, although the economy continued to grow in the second quarter, its growth rate slowed down. The slowdown in GDP growth was in line with the expectations of the National Bank and is associated with the adaptation of mining and metallurgical enterprises and energy companies to new business conditions in which they ended up as a result of termination of trade and transport ties in the east of the country. In addition, the decline in agriculture has deepened, both due to a further decline in livestock production and because of the late start of this year's harvest campaign in comparison with the previous year," the statement reads.

As reported, the State Statistics Service has recently worsened the estimate of GDP growth in Ukraine in the second quarter of 2017 from the second quarter of 2016 from 2.5% to 2.3%.