Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused the country’s economy to contract by 15.1 percent in the first three months of this year, the state statistics agency calculated on Thursday.
The invasion by Russia on February 24 laid waste to large swathes of the Ukrainian economy, with a slew of companies forced to shut or dramatically recalibrate production.
The International Monetary Fund is forecasting a contraction in Ukraine’s gross domestic product of 35 percent across the whole of 2022, and Ukrainian finance minister Sergiy Marchenko told AFP in mid-May that he was anticipating a decline of as much as 45-50 percent.
Inflation in the war-stricken country accelerated to 18 percent on a 12-month basis in May from 16.4 percent in April, the statistics agency said, with food prices continuing to soar.
The Ukrainian central bank has warned that headline inflation could rise as high as 20 percent by the end of 2022.
On June 2, the central bank sharply increased its key interest rate to 25 percent from 10 percent previously in a bid to curb inflation and protect the hryvnia, the national currency.