Real GDP Hits 7.8% in 5M07

According to preliminary data from the Ministry of Economy, Ukraine’s GDP grew to 7.8% yoy in 5M07, down slightly from 7.9% in 4M07 and 8.0% in 1Q07. The Ministry is forecasting GDP growth of 6.5% in 2007 and 7.2% in 2008, Deputy Minister of Economy Valery Muntiyan said at a press conference yesterday. Official results and a sector-by-sector breakdown has not yet been made available by the State Statistics Committee. Polina Khomenko:As we expected, GDP growth slowed down in May due to a high comparison base (4.0% yoy in 5M06 versus 2.7% yoy in 4M06). We project the further lowering of the growth rate in the coming months and maintain our forecast of 7.3% for 2007.