The Ukrainian Economy Ministry has predicted that Ukraine will see double-digit inflation in 2010 at less than 13%, First Deputy Economy Minister Anatoliy Maksiuta said at a briefing at the Cabinet of Ministers.

"I want us to understand the difference between a change in forecasts and expectations, because there is an official procedure for changing the forecasts, but this does not mean that we cannot have our own expectations. We expect inflation to be less than 13%," he said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said earlier that there was currently every reason to expect that inflation in 2010 would not exceed 10%. "For the first time in recent years, annual inflation will be single-digit," he said.

Inflation in Ukraine in October 2010 slowed to 0.5%, compared to 2.9% in September 2010 and 1.2% in August 2010. Since the beginning of the year, inflation has reached 7.9%, compared to 10.1% reported for the same period last year.

UKRINFORM