Growth of Ukraine's GDP in 2019 slowed from 3.4% in 2018 to 3.3%, while the drivers of this growth have changed, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine said on Tuesday.

"The growth of the composite manufacturing index (CMI) for goods and services by main types of economic activities slowed significantly – to 1.6% in general in 2019, and in the last months of the year its decline was even observed. However, high domestic demand generated high rates in construction and trade and a number of industries in the service sector," the ministry said in the 2019 economic activity survey.

CMI slowdown from 3.6% in 2018, according to the ministry, was primarily due to the difficult situation in the industry, where output fell by 1.8% after a three-year growth (in 2018 – by 1.6%).

Also, despite the new record for the grain harvest, agriculture slowed significantly – to 1.1% from 8% a year earlier.

According to the survey, last year growth pace in trade also decreased from 4.6% to 3.1%, while in construction it accelerated from 8.5% to 20%.

The ministry said that the GDP was estimated taking into account tentative information from the State Statistics Service on the indicators of wholesale and retail trade turnover, as well as the volume of freight and passenger traffic.

"In 2020, reform will continue in all areas of the economy, modernization of the industrial complex, and active updating of infrastructure facilities, but the influence of factors that impacted the development of the economy in 2019, against the background of structural imbalances and accumulated problems that have developed in previous periods, will somewhat restrain economic growth in overall," the ministry said, without specifying its forecast.