The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday downgraded its projection for Ukraine's economic growth this year from 4.8 percent to 3 percent.
The IMF said in its monthly World Economic Outlook that recovery of the Ukrainian economy is threatened by a large need for external financing, rising social spending, and intensifying strains in the euro area, the state-run Ukrinform news agency reported
The inflation rate in Ukraine for 2012, the IMF said, could stand at 6.7 percent from 4.6 percent last year on rising food and fuel prices.
The Ukrainian government is projecting a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 3.9 percent and inflation at 7.9 percent in 2012.
According to official data, Ukraine's inflation rate in March rose 1.2 percent year-on-year, while the GDP expanded 2 percent in annual terms on February.
The East European economy grew 5.2 percent in 2011 with the nominal GDP of 164.25 billion U.S. dollars.