President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the Cabinet of Ministers to be more active in combating inflation.
Yuschenko's spokeswoman Iryna Vannikova announced this to journalists at a news briefing.
"The President of Ukraine is also calling on the government to move from slogans and politicization to clear professional steps aimed at overcoming inflation," Vannikova said.
According to her, Yuschenko notes that the forecast that the rate of inflation will fall in May should not calm the government because it will only be a seasonal fall.
"It is a seasonal fall, but the indicators of this year are significantly higher than those for] the similar periods of the previous years, when the inflation indicator was close to zero. For the tendency toward a fall in prices not to seem like ordinary statistics ... ordinary citizens and the country are expecting effective steps from the government today," Vannikova quoted Yuschenko as saying.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Presidential Secretariat's head Viktor Baloha has forecast an inflation rate of 1.5-1.6% for May.
The inflation rates in Ukraine were 3.8% in March, 3.1% in April, 9.7% in the January-March period, and 13.1% in the January-April period.
The Cabinet of Ministers based the 2008 state budget on an annual inflation forecast of 9.6%.
The World Bank has revised its 2008 inflation forecast for Ukraine from 10.6% to 17.1% (December on December) and revised its 2008 GDP growth forecast from 5.4% to 5.6%.
Press Conference On “State And Prospects Of Ukrainian Market Of Petroleum Products”
