Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov may be appointed as the prime minister by the end of the first half of 2013, President of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko has said.

At a press conference in Kyiv on Friday, he said that the best time to replace the prime minister would be from April to early June 2013.

According to Fesenko, Arbuzov is the most likely candidate for this post.

"Many experts believe that this appointment (Arbuzov's appointment as the first deputy prime minister) means that after a while we will become a new prime minister," the expert said.

He stressed that these conclusions could be drawn from Arbuzov's previous career, when before being appointed as the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine he first served some time as the first deputy head of the NBU.

According to Fesenko, recent statements by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov confirm his forecast.