It is impossible to avoid price increases and by the end of the year inflation could exceed 20%, said Kirill Shevchenko.
In April, inflation rose to 15.9%, and by the end of the year it may exceed 20%. This forecast was voiced by the head of the National Bank Kirill Shevchenko, reports the Chronicle.info with reference to the Correspondent.
«In a war, it is impossible to avoid rising prices … at the end of the year it (inflation) may exceed 20% . This is a significant level of price growth, but controlled. And such figures are incomparable with 2015, when in some months inflation reached 60%», — he noted.
At the same time, Shevchenko stressed that the NBU has significant experience in fighting inflation and there have been no cases in world history «when a country entered martial law, having such a highly developed financial system and monetary policy».
The head of the National Bank pointed out that while market mechanisms will have a limited impact on the market, the regulator will keep price growth by fixing the exchange rate and maintaining part of the restrictions.
«But as soon as the channels of monetary transmission start working and uncertainty decreases, we will return to the inflation targeting regime, which at one time helped to overcome the same inflation of 60%», — Shevchenko said.
According to him, the National Bank will gradually restore the forecast cycle and again begin to apply the discount rate to reduce inflation to 5% and keep inflationary expectations under control.
Recall, according to the State Statistics Service , consumer price growth in March accelerated to 4.5% from 1.6% in February, 1.3% — in January and 0.6% — in December last year.
In March, year-on-year inflation rose to 13.7% from 10.7% in February and 10% — at the end of January.