KIEV, Sept. 29 – Ukraine’s strong economic performance supports its sovereign ratings in a time of political uncertainty, Fitch Ratings commented ahead of Sunday's parliamentary elections.

As the agency said, the emergence of a strong pro-business government could see political risk ease.

According to Fitch, Ukraine's economy continues to perform strongly, growing 7.5% in the first eight months of 2007 year-on-year. Booming consumption and solid business investment are driving growth, fuelled by rising incomes, fast-growing bank credit and high steel prices. Fitch projects a moderate current account deficit (CAD) of 3% in 2007, up from 1.5% of GDP in 2006, but expects 2007's CAD to be more than covered by equity FDI inflows. The strength of capital inflows saw official reserves rise to $27 billion by July 2007, further supporting external liquidity and the hryvnia's peg to the U.S. dollar at 5.05. The sovereign was a net public external creditor to the tune of 8% of GDP at the end of 2006.