Recovery of businesses' operations in Ukraine slows down, might indicate stabilization - NBU

KYIV. May 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The quick pace at which Ukrainian businesses were resuming their normal operations at the end of March and in April slowed down considerably in May, which might be a sign of some economic stabilization, National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Deputy Governor Serhiy Nikolaichuk said.

"Judging by the operational indicators that we're monitoring, we see that the resumption of work of Ukrainian businesses has slowed down. This might be a sign of the economy's stabilization, indeed," Nikolaichuk told journalists in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Some problems related to the functioning of infrastructure, primarily transport infrastructure, are slowing down further economic recovery, he said.

In particular, a shortage of oil products negatively affects mobility, which is also slowing down economic recovery, he said.

In commenting on the fact that the number of people leaving Ukraine has lately been roughly equal to the number of those returning, Nikolaichuk assumed that migration trends will depend on the security factor.

In the absence of information from the State Statistics Service, the NBU is using a number of economic activity indicators it developed during the Covid-19 pandemic to analyze the economy on an ongoing basis, he said.

"Indeed, the lack of data from the State Statistics Service creates some inconvenience, but the presence of alternative indicators makes the situation significantly easier for the Central Bank to perform its functions. For instance, we follow the results of surveys of businesses we conduct twice a month, the number of tickets sold by Ukrzaliznytsia [the national railway company], the number of working restaurants and retail chains, the number of vacancies and CVs," he said.