Ukraine Q1 GDP shrinks 0.5% year-on-year, statistics service says

May 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine's ‌economy shrank ​0.5% ​year-on-year in real terms in the first quarter of 2026, the statistics service said ‌on Tuesday.

Gross domestic product was down 0.7% compared ⁠with the fourth quarter, it added.

The Ukrainian economy contracted ‌as Russia pounded the energy ‌sector and other infrastructure with hundreds of drones and missiles during a very cold winter, forcing ​long blackouts and disrupting water and heating supplies, economists said.

Due to the contraction in the ⁠first quarter of the year, challenges in the energy sector, and the ​negative impact of the war in Iran, Ukraine's central bank has downgraded its forecast ​for GDP growth for 2026 ‌to 1.3% from about 1.8% previously.

GDP growth is expected to pick up later ⁠in the year due to warmer weather and smaller energy deficits, economists and officials said.

Statistics data showed that ⁠industrial production also fell by 1.1% in the first quarter of ​the year. The statistics service said that it grew by 4.5% year-on-year in March after a 2.6% fall in ‌February and 8.1% decrease in January.

Ukraine's GDP grew by 1.8% in 2025 after ‌a 2.9% increase in 2024, but the economy is ⁠still about 20% smaller ‌than it was ​before Russia's invasion in February 2022.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Olena Harmash, editing by Chizu ‌Nomiyama )

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• DOJ says man charged in Philadelphia mosque fire targeted it because it was a mosque
• New Zealand's ruling coalition holds razor-thin majority in poll, new centrist party gains ground
• Philippines Q2 GDP grows 2.3% yr/yr, slower than expected