Inflation could reach more than 10% next year, an expert said

Ukraine’s inflation slowed to 7.1% in September and 8.6% in August, while it was over 20% at the beginning of the year. At the same time, according to the State Statistics Service, prices rose by only 0.5% month-on-month.

However, no one talks about inflation has been successfully defeated, and the average annual inflation rate next year will be lower than forecast.

It was emphasized by Olena Korobkova, Chair of the Board of the Independent Association of the Banks of Ukraine, during a discussion within the framework of the country’s main discussion platform BrainHub at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. 

“If we talk about the inflation projected level for 2024, it is generally, the entire government forecast is based on expectations for 2023. But we see that the government’s inflation expectations for 2023 are also irrelevant. Its research gave 2023 GDP recovery predictions that were far different from the real ones. And recently, the Minister of Finance said that the recovery is anticipated to be almost 5%. The actual average annual inflation rate was predicted to get to 16%, and now it is 7.1%. Of course, the annual average inflation forecasts will be slightly different, but it will still be less than 16%. So these are the figures that we should consider as a starting point, but not in a way that would cause fear of the worst is yet to come. We should not expect to bring inflation back down. And inflation expectations for the next year of 10%, more than 10%, in my opinion, is a reasonable approach,” explained Olena Korobkova.

BrainHub is the country’s main discussion platform created by Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. It brings together experts from the public and civil society sectors. BrainHub hosts intellectual discussions on the issues of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. The best ideas are born here, which will form the basis of the roadmap for rebuilding Ukraine in all sectors: economic, infrastructure, education, agriculture, security, digital, etc.

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