KYIV, Jan 25 - The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has worsened the inflation forecast for 2018 to 8.9% from 7.3%, according to the central bank's website.

"The National Bank predicts that in 2018 inflation will remain high: 8.9% total inflation and 8.2% underlying inflation," the report said.

According to the National Bank, inflationary pressure will be due to a number of factors. Among them is the transfer of growth in prices of commodities, which was observed in 2017 (primarily for meat and milk) to the prices of products with a high degree of processing, growth of public income and, accordingly, a higher consumer demand against the background of higher social standards and wages in the private sector, the increased external vulnerability of the Ukrainian economy due to delays in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).