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pharmaceuticals.
Prices for housing and utilities slid 2.8% (vs. a 2.0% m/m decline in February) due to a plunge in natural gas prices by 11.6% m/m and a drop in prices for hot water and central heating by 5.2% m/m.
With inflation growing in March at 2.3% y/y, Ukraine could end the year within the target range of 4-6%, ​writes Oleksiy Blinov, head of research for Alfa-Bank Ukraine. Keeping inflation down, demand is weak due to the coronavirus economy and to low oil and gas prices. The big upside risk is the government printing money to cover the deficit of the new coronavirus budget. Blinov predicts Ukraine’s low first quarter inflation will prompt the central bank to cut the prime interest rate next week by another 100 basis points, to 9%. On April 23, the National Bank of Ukraine has its scheduled monetary policy review meeting.
18​ UKRAINE Country Report​ May 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com