KIEV, Sept. 20 – The slowdown in the pace of Ukrainian economic development registered by the State Statistics Service at the end of August was anticipated and was mainly caused by the worsening of the situation in the global economy, said Valeriy Lytvytsky, the head of a group of advisors to the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.

In the present conditions, it is very important to use internal reserves to retain growth and prevent decline, Lytvytsky said.

"The country is being hit by a wave of global economic hardship: there is a recession in Europe and a slowdown of economic growth in Russia, " he told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.