KIEV, Feb. 10 – The monthly inflation figure recorded in January 2009 (2.9%) sharply reduces the possibility of keeping the growth in consumer prices in 2009 at the level of the government's forecast (9.5%), according to Valeriy Lytvytsky, the head of the group of advisors to the National Bank of Ukraine’s governor.

"We see signs of stagflation – the supply of goods is being squeezed," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

However, he said that the situation should not be over dramatized, as the growth in consumer prices in January 2008 was at the same level.