IMF explains why Ukraine's GDP forecast was upgraded
“This [upgraded Ukraine’s GDP forecast] reflects a better outturn in the second quarter. We saw that retail trade and consumption were rebounding faster than we expected. Therefore we have upgraded our forecast from our June projections,” IMF European Department Director Alfred Kammer told an Ukrinform correspondent in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.
At the same time, Kammer emphasized that the downside risks remained exceptionally large.
“We need to see, how the second wave [of COVID-19] is going to develop,” the IMF European Department Director noted.
According to him, the IMF expects that the second wave of the pandemic will certainly affect the economy.
“The impact on the economy and on corporate balance sheets will be. And that is something, which would be closely monitoring together with the Ukrainian government,” Kammer assured.
As reported, the International Monetary Fund expects Ukraine's GDP to fall to minus 7.2% in 2020 compared to minus 8.2% projected by the Fund earlier in June, according to the IMF's October 2020 World Economic Outlook report.
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