KIEV, Aug. 20 – Economic decline in Ukraine has almost been halted, and gross domestic product increased by 5.5% since the beginning of the year, said First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev.

"In general the decline has stopped. GDP growth since the beginning of the year has been 5.5%. Industrial production grew by 11.4% over the period under review. This is how I will put it: the situation is quite difficult, but we're gradually getting out of the crisis. This concerns the key industries, upon which we can draw certain conclusions," he said in an interview with the 2000 newspaper on Friday.

The situation in metallurgy has improved a lot, he said. However, the situation in the chemical industry is complicated, as international prices of chemicals have again declined lately.