The Ministry of Economy estimates a drop in Ukraine’s GDP at 5% in January–April

The Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine estimates a cut in gross domestic product in January–April 2020 at 5% compared to the same period of the previous year, according to data of the economic activity review for April.

“Along with the constraints of previous periods, a decline in GDP in January–April 2020 was estimated by the Ministry of Economy at 5%. This fully complies with the forecast,” the review says.

At the same time, the Ministry of Economy estimates a decline in industrial production in January–April 2020 at 7.9% compared to the same period a year earlier.

“In April, the industry fully felt the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus. Export-oriented industrial sectors and sectors of the investment segment were most affected by falling prices and demand. Others felt the impact of decreased demand due to broken cross-sectoral ties and the extended constraints imposed earlier: high competition of imports, unstable domestic orders,” the Ministry of Economy explained.

As a result, a fall in the indicators in January–April was as follows:

• mechanical engineering — 19.7%;
• steel industry — 15.4%;
• textile industry — 13.6%;
• chemical industry — 13%;

At the same time, in April 2020, mechanical engineering production decreased by 35.6% against the previous month.

A drop in Ukraine’s construction in January–April 2020 was 8.7% against 5.5% in January–March 2019.

“The imposition of quarantine and the halt of public transport adversely affected engineering and residential construction,” the Ministry of Economy explained.

As GMK Center reported earlier, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, a 1.5% drop was recorded in the country’s real GDP in Q1 2020 compared to the same period a year earlier.

According to the State Statistics Service, in April 2020, Ukraine’s industrial production shrank by 16.2% compared to April last year. A decline was 7.7% in March, 1.5% in February and 5.1% in January.