KIEV, May 24 - The slowdown in economic growth in Ukraine in March-April was caused by the weakness in the world economy, so the government must focus on domestic market, a National Bank of Ukraine official said.

Valeriy Lytvytsky, the head of the group of advisors to the National Bank of Ukraine's (NBU) governor, said the change of policy needed o avert “weakening of growth.”

"The risk of a weakening in growth is becoming more likely. This should be considered in monetary and foreign currency policies," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to Lytvytsky's estimates, in March the cumulative dynamics of GDP declined from 5.9% to 5.2%, in April from 4.6-4.9%, whereas inflation accelerated by 1.7 percentage points, to 9.4% in annual terms.