KIEV, April 19 - Consumer confidence in Ukraine worsened in March, along with a rise in inflation expectations, according to a GfK Ukraine survey.

"In the first spring month of 2011, the consumer confidence index continued falling - by 6.3 notches, to 61.8. The fall in consumer confidence was mainly linked to the worsening of economic expectations," the company said.

GfK Ukraine said that in March the consumer confidence of Ukrainians worsened to the level of the spring of 2009.

"The combination of ill-considered tax changes, the worsening of conditions for doing business, the increase of prices and tariffs on more groups of goods and services – all of this caused the worsening of consumer confidence for the fourth month in a row," GfK Ukraine said.