World Bank keeps Ukraine's 2016 GDP growth forecast at 1 pct

The World Bank (WB) said on Thursday it has retained Ukraine's economic growth forecast for this year at 1 percent amid a string of internal and external risks.

"The economic recovery will be moderate due to the unfavorable external environment as well as due to the continuing uncertainty regarding the future developments in the east of Ukraine and the pace of implementation of reforms in a difficult political situation," Anastasia Golovach, WB's economist in Kiev, told reporters during a press conference.

Meanwhile, Satu Kahkonen, the WB country director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, said that Ukraine has a chance to reach an economic growth of 3 to 4 percent in the medium term if it implements structural reforms aimed at attracting investors.

Addressing the issues of macroeconomic instability, poor labour productivity and low efficiency of social services is the key for the Ukrainian government to accelerate the pace of the economic growth, Kahkonen said.

The Ukrainian economy has officially emerged from more than two years of recession in the first half of 2016 as the country's gross domestic product rose by 1.3 percent year on year in the second quarter of this year, after rising 0.1 percent in the first quarter.

Last year, the economy of the East European country bogged down 9.9 percent. Endit