Ukraine's GDP may grow by 3 percent in 2017: Trade minister

The Ukrainian gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to expand by 3 percent next year under an optimistic scenario of the economy development, the country's Economic Development and Trade Minister Stepan Kubiv said here on Friday.

"The investment and external demand will be the main locomotives of the growth," Kubiv told a government meeting.

The positive scenario, which implicates successful implementation of economic reforms and high global demand for Ukraine' s main exports goods, stipulates that the inflation rate in the East European country may slow to 8.1 percent in 2017, Kubiv said.

Based on a pessimistic scenario, the economy would grow by 1.5 percent next year, while inflation would reach 10.3 percent, he added.

Ukraine's GDP shrank 9.9 percent last year, while annual inflation rate spiked to 43.3 percent.

The poor performance of the economy in 2015 was attributed by the government to the conflict in eastern regions -- the country' s industrial heartland, and a 40.5-percent contraction in a trade with Russia, which used to be Ukraine' s largest trading partner.

The Ukrainian government forecasted that the economy will start to recover this year, with GDP growing by 1 percent. Endit