Ukrainian Economy Ministry expects GDP to drop by 35%-40% by end of 2022

MOSCOW. Aug 19 (Interfax) - Ukraine's real GDP might drop by 35%-40% until the end of 2022, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko said.

"Our calculations and macroeconomic forecasts made by the Economy Ministry show that the economy might shrink by 35%-40% before the end of the year," Ukrainian media quoted Svyrydenko as saying during a national TV marathon on Friday.

Ukraine attaches special importance to maintaining economic and macroeconomic stability and exploring ways to stimulate economic activity in the country, she said.

"If we talk about this path, this means supporting businesses that have worked already, have their employees and markets, and have been able to rearrange their operations over the past six months so that they could keep working actively," she said.

As reported earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) expects the Ukrainian GDP's slump to slow down in the third and fourth quarters of 2022 to 37.5% from 39.3% in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2021.

Ukraine's economy will shrink by another 19% in the first quarter of 2013, taking into account the base of the first quarter of 2021, when it also saw a drop by 15.1%, and economic recovery should begin in the second quarter of 2023, according to the NBU estimates. In particular, the Ukrainian economy should grow by 17.5% in the second, 13.2% in the third, and 12.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The NBU expects Ukraine's GDP to decline by 33.4% over 2022, grow by 5.5% in 2023, and 4.9% in 2024.