Ukraine seeks to stimulate economy with more investment
2012-07-25 17:41:53
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov pledged Wednesday to crank up efforts to attract more investment in all industries in a bid to stimulate its stagnating economy.
"We need a real escalation of investment. The country should move to a model of intensive economic development to achieve rapid growth," Azarov told a government meeting.
The government has developed a new investment policy that encourages investment in heavy industry, science and agriculture, Azarov said, adding that more investment could help the country reach its goal of expanding its GDP by 6 percent this year.
Currently, Ukraine is implementing about 20 large-scale projects in agriculture, with total investment exceeding 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, he said.
Ukraine's GDP grew 2.5 percent year on year in the first half of 2012, barely half the rate of last year's annual growth of 5.2 percent.