National Bank forecasts low inflation in April

Inflation will remain low in Ukraine in April, as there is no increased demand in the commodity and foreign exchange markets, according to preliminary data provided by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

“Inflation will remain low in April, according to preliminary data from the NBU online monitoring. Increased demand for essential goods and stir on the currency market, caused by psychological factors, quickly depleted. So prices for most food products and medicines rose during the first weeks of quarantine then started to decline in following weeks," said National Bank Chairman Yakiv Smolii at a briefing on April 23, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

He noted that last month consumer price growth slowed down to 2.3% year-on-year.

March's price growth was primarily driven by three factors: cheaper energy supplies in global markets, residual effects from last year's hryvnia strengthening, and an increase in the supply of raw food products. According to Smolii, these factors outweighed the feverish pressure on prices - due to the March weakening of the hryvnia and speculative demand for certain goods after the introduction of quarantine measures.

"Inflation will moderately accelerate within the coming months and will reach 6% by the end of 2020, that is, it will remain within the target range," Smolii said.

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