Ukraine lowers GDP growth forecast

KIEV - Ukraine had slashed its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the next year from 4.5 percent to between 3 and 3.5 percent, a government official said Thursday.

"It is a consensus forecast, which includes a pessimistic and an optimistic scenario," deputy head of the president's office Iryna Akimova told a press briefing.

The inflation forecast for 2013 was also revised, she said, and was now expected to be between 5 and 7 percent next year in comparison with the previous forecast of 5.9 percent, reported in May.

Ukraine would form the state budget for the next year based on these figures, Akimova said.

Ukraine's GDP expanded by 5.2 percent last year and was expected to reach 3.9 percent in 2012.