The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has downgraded its outlook for the fall of the Ukrainian economy in 2015 to 11.5%, from the June 2015 figure of 9%, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
"There is cautious hope that the economy reached the bottom in the middle of 2015 and that the output level will stabilize in the second half of the year amid domestic and regional risks which remain material," the bank said it an updated forecast.
According to the report, the estimate of Ukraine's GDP growth in 2016 deteriorated from 3% to 2%.
The EBRD said that the economies of Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova have been affected by regional economic and security trends and by country-specific factors.
For Russia, the forecast of slowdown in the economy this year was improved from 4.5% to 4.2% and in 2016 from 1.8% to 1.2%, while for Belarus it deteriorated from 2.5% to 3.5%, and from 0% to 1% respectively.
For the Central Europe and Baltic States the EBRD retained its forecast at the same level. In particular, it expects the Polish economy to grow this year by 3.4%, and next year by 3.3%, as well as Slovakia by 3.1% and 3.2% respectively, and Hungary by 2.9% and 2.1% respectively.
