Ukraine’s Economy Declined 15%, Economy Ministry Says

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Ukraine’s economic output plunged 15 percent last year, the most since at least 1996, because of the global financial crisis, the Economy Ministry said.

Gross domestic product shrank 7 percent on an annual basis in the fourth quarter after slumping 15.9 percent in the third, 17.8 percent in the second and 20.3 percent in the first three months, the state statistics committee in Kiev said yesterday.

The fourth-quarter “decline at a slower pace was because of a gradual recovery in industrial production,” Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn said today in an e-mailed statement. “The main problem for the economic recovery is lack of credits.”

The global recession slashed demand for Ukrainian exports and dried up investment, forcing the country to turn for an International Monetary Fund emergency loan in November 2008 to stay afloat. Cooperation with the Washington-based lender has been stalled for a fourth month as the Cabinet failed to adopt the 2010 state budget and cut spending.

GDP rose a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, while remaining flat in the third quarter from the second, according to the statement.

Source:businessweek.com/