Kiev - Ukraine's economy plunged into recession in the final quarter of 2012 with GDP contracting 2.7%, the second quarter running of negative growth, the statistics office said.
Gross domestic product in Ukraine contracted 2.7% in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with the same period last year. The economy had already shrunk by 1.2% in the third quarter.
For the whole of 2012, growth was almost stagnant at 0.2% compared with 5.2% in 2011 and the projection in the budget for growth of 3.9%.
Ukraine, which was one of the European states worst hit by the 2009 economic crisis, is hugely vulnerable to the current global slowdown due to its dependence on metals exports.