The National Bank also projects the country's national debt to grow to 93 percent of GDP, mainly as a result of the spiraling currency devaluation which occurred at the beginning of the year. National debt comprised 71 percent of GDP in 2014. Ukrainian government debt presently amounts to an estimated $50 billion US.
Given budget cuts, the NBU also expects to turn last year's $8 billion budget deficit into a $3.1 billion surplus in 2015, expecting it to grow further to $5.6 billion in 2016.
The bank also expects spiraling energy prices to reduce the country's gas consumption from $6 billion in 2015 to $4.4 billion in 2016, taking into account economic decline and a drop in residential and commercial use.
Last month, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers proposed three scenarios for action to deal with the country's economic crisis, projecting an overall decline in GDP in 2015 of between 5.5 and 11.9 percent, together with a fall in exports of between 7 and 16.6 percent, and a drop in imports of between 10.7 and 22 percent.
Late last month, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenuk estimated that Ukraine had lost a quarter of its GDP due to the conflict in the Donbass.
Ukraine's National Statistics Office reported an economic decline of 6.8 percent for 2014.
