Ukraine's GDP decline decelerates to 15.9% yoy in 3Q09

Ukraine’s GDP dropped 15.9% yoy in 3Q09, the State Statistics Committee announced yesterday. The decrease is less steep than 2Q09’s decline of 17.8% yoy and 1Q09’s drop of 20.3% yoy.  Mykyta Mykhaylychenko: The deceleration in GDP was expected and derived from both a lower comparison base and growth in industrial production by ~2% in 3Q09 vs. 2Q09. In 4Q09, we expect further improvement in annual GDP dynamics on the back of the low comparison base at end-2008. In 2009, we forecast the overall drop in GDP to equal 14-14.5%. The State Statistics Committee did not provide details on the change in GDP in 3Q09 and is scheduled to release final data on 3Q GDP in late December.