World Bank forecasts catastrophic fall in Ukraine's GDP

Ukraine's economic output is likely to contract by a staggering 45.1% this year, as the invasion of Russia closed businesses, reduced exports and destroyed productive capacity, the World Bank said Sunday in a new assessment of the economic impacts of the war.

The World Bank also forecast that Russia's GDP output in 2022 will fall by 11.2% due to financial sanctions imposed by the United States and its Western allies on Russian banks, state-owned enterprises and other institutions.

The Eastern European region, which comprises Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, is forecast to show a 30.7% GDP contraction this year, due to the impacts of war and trade disruption.

For Ukraine, the World Bank report estimates that more than half of the country's companies are closed, while others that are still open operate well below normal capacity.

The closure of Black Sea shipping from Ukraine has cut about 90% of the country's grain exports and half of its total exports.

(With information from AFP)

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