In recent years Ukraine has achieved an impressive average annual growth rate of about seven per cent, with a great deal of this growth attributed to substantial foreign investment. By the end of 2008, however, the International Monetary Fund was forced to intervene with a $16.5bn emergency loan, as Ukraine's banking system teetered on the brink of collapse.
Ukraine entered 2009 in recession and forecasts for growth in the second half of the year depend heavily on the state of the global economy.
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