KIEV, Jan. 10 – Ukraine’s consumer prices rose 0.9% on the month in December pushing the country’s 2009 inflation to 12.3%, a figure that far exceeds the government’s original forecast, the State Statistics Committee reported.

The government, which originally predicted the prices to grow 9.5% on the year in 2009, had overshot the forecast due to massive borrowing to cover widening budget deficit.

President Viktor Yushchenko estimated the government had borrowed at least 42 billion hryvnias in 2009 by selling its Treasury bills to the National Bank of Ukraine, a policy that puts upward pressure on consumer prices.