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Ukraine government forecasts GDP growth at 4.5 percent in 2013

According to the National Statistics Service, the Ukrainian GDP went up by 5.2 percent in 2011

KIEV, April 20 (Itar-Tass) —— The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has put forth the forecasts of key macroeconomic indices of the country’s social and economic development in 2013, the government wrote in the draft decree On the Major Trends of the Budget Policy for 2013, the text of which was posted on the government’s official website.

The government of Ukraine estimates the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product at 4.5 percent in 2013, as compared to the forecasted level of 3.9 percent in 2012. Herein, the GDP in value terms is projected at 1.688 trillion hryvni (211 billion U.S. dollars), which will be 188 billion hryvni (23.5 billion U.S. dollars) more than it was forecasted for this year, the document wrote.

The Cabinet of Ministers also mapped out major tasks to form the basis of the country’s budget policy for the next year. In 2013, the government plans to curb the maximum deficit of the state budget at 0.8-1.0 percent of the GDP and keep the state debt “at the economically safe level” of no more than 25 percent of the GDP, the document underlined, reaffirming that this year’s indicator amounts to 27.7 percent.

The government also plans to guarantee the growth of the real wages, as compared to the current year, and increase the social allowance and benefits.

According to the National Statistics Service, the Ukrainian GDP went up by 5.2 percent in 2011, while the inflation rate slid down to 4.6 percent from 9.1 percent in the preceding year. While this year’s forecast envisages the GDP growth at the level of 3.9 percent, Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov believes that the country may overtop the above-mentioned threshold to achieve the level of five percent by the yearend.

However, in April 2012, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its forecast pertaining to the Ukrainian GDP growth from 4.8 percent to 3.0 percent in 2012. At the mean time, IMF improved the inflation forecast from 8.5 percent to 7.9 percent in Ukraine.