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exports are also gradually recovering and the end of the blockade on Ukrainian ports should make a very big difference to Ukraine’s balance of payments.
Nevertheless, NBU predicts a 2022 drop in GDP of more than a third and an increase in inflation to more than 30%. The national bank estimates that the economy will decline by 40% in the first half of this year and will end the year down by 30-35%. At the same time, analysts of the regulator believe that the economy of Ukraine will show a recovery of 5-6% in 2023-2024. This will become possible if the active phase of the war ends and the Black Sea ports are unblocked.
The regulator expects inflation to return to the goal of 5% in 2025. According to the NBU forecast, inflation will decrease to 20.7% in 2023 and 9.4% in 2024.
2.2 Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov gives up his media assets, “I’m not an oligarch”
Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, has transferred the ownership of his media assets to the state in a bid to shed his oligarch status.
“I made an involuntary decision that my investment company SCM will exit its media business,” the owner of the System Capital Management (SCM) conglomerate said in a statement.
“This week Media Group Ukraine will surrender for the benefit of the State all Ukrainian licences of our television channels for terrestrial and satellite broadcasting, as well as print media licences. We shall
11 UKRAINE Country Report XXXX 2018 www.intellinews.com