This year's inflation should get stabilized within 4-6% in line with the main principles of monetary policy for 2013, which were published by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

Director of the NBU's General Economic Department Oleksandr Petryk said this, while commenting on the level of consumer prices in the first quarter of the year.

"Inflation this year will stand within the limits defined in the main principles of monetary policy for 2013," Petryk said. According to the principles, an annual increase in the consumer price index in 2013-2014 was calculated in line with the optimistic and realistic scenario - 4% and 6%.

According to Petryk, consumer prices remained virtually unchanged in the first quarter of the year. The main factor influencing the dynamics of consumer prices, as in the fourth quarter of 2012, was weak external demand that had a respective impact on insufficient consumer demand in the domestic market.

The expert also added that core inflation in annual terms stood at only 0.4% in March 2013, due to secondary effects from lower prices for raw food and a reduction in imported inflation. "Non-core inflation, which is mainly a reflection of inflation on the supply side, also remained virtually unchanged in the first quarter, while prices for the main share of the non-core inflation basket - raw food - even shrank," Petryk said.

In addition, fuel prices in the first quarter of 2013 fell by 0.5% due to a drop in oil prices on the world markets in the previous quarter.

However, the increase in the first quarter of 2013 in the producer price index reflects a rise in prices for heating, hot and cold water. Despite this, the preliminary figures of inflationary expectations of managers of Ukrainian enterprises "demonstrate the first positive signs of further economic recovery since they are much better than in previous periods," Petryk said.

Ukrinform