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Ukraine's c.bank keeps key rate the same as inflation anticipated to accelerate

Ukraine's reserve bank kept its essential rates of interest unchanged at 13% on Thursday and stated inflation was anticipated to accelerate this year due to rises in electricity prices and service costs due to Russia's intrusion.

But the reserve bank anticipated the wartime economy to grow by 3.7% in 2024, up from an earlier forecast of 3%, in spite of Russian airstrikes that have terribly harmed the power sector and raised issues over the economic impact.

Central Bank Guv Andriy Pyshnyi stated the decision to keep the rate the same looked for to make sure the sustainability of the foreign exchange market and bring inflation closer to its 5%. target within the projection horizon.

Hidden cost pressures heightened as businesses'. expenditures on labour and power grew, Pyshnyi told a media. briefing. Inflation will increase going forward, but will begin to. reduce next year.

Consumer price inflation reached 4.8% year-on-year in June,. fuelled by a boost in consumer electrical power costs,. statistics information revealed.

The federal government increased electrical energy rates by more than 60%. to money repair work to the energy system, seriously struck by the. Russian bombardments.

All aspects are currently contributing to greater. inflation, stated Oleksiy Heraschenko, an economic expert at Kyiv. Mohyla Organization School. These are the situation in the energy. sector, the boost in fuel import tax responsibilities, and likewise considerable. decline of the hryvnia (currency).

Heraschenko said that the federal government's strategies to increase. taxes to fund Ukraine's defence would even more fuel inflation.

The reserve bank modified its inflation projection to 8.5% at. completion of this year from an earlier target of 8.2%.

Next year it anticipates inflation to be up to about 6.6% and to. about 5% in 2026 as the central bank anticipates the circumstance in. the energy sector to improve.

Over the past four months, Russia intensified its drone and. rocket attacks on Ukraine's power system and other energy. facilities, knocking out about half of the available. generation capacity and forcing long blackouts.

Serhiy Nikolaichuk, a deputy guv, stated companies had. showed more resilient during the blackouts than initially. anticipated. Lots of Ukrainian organizations use generators while some. bigger companies import electrical power and are implementing. sustainable tasks.

That durability triggered the central bank to enhance its GDP. growth projection for this year, Nikolaichuk said.

He likewise stated the economy grew faster than anticipated in the. first quarter of this year, when statistics data showed GDP grew. by 6.5% year-on-year.

(source: Reuters)