The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) expects the current tariffs for natural gas, heating and hot water supply not to be revised next year.
The NBU said this in its Inflation Report for October 2024, Ukrinform reports.
According to the central bank’s projections, stable tariffs for utility services will be kept until the end of 2025, but from 2026, they will be gradually brought to economically justified levels due to the difficult situation in the energy sector.
“Uncertainty regarding the timing and amount of tariff adjustments, primarily energy tariffs, is a separate risk for the inflation forecast,” the NBU said.
In the case of a rapid increase in the cost of energy resources or other housing and utility tariffs, this will form an additional contribution to the inflation rate and lead to the need to increase subsidies for households.
At the same time, the NBU warned that the long-term postponement of tariff increases would lead to the accumulation of quasi-fiscal imbalances and the deterioration of the financial condition of state-owned energy companies, which will increase the risk of instability in the energy market.
The NBU earlier predicted that inflation would accelerate to 9.7% by the end of 2024, with a further decrease in subsequent years.
Source: NBU predicts utility tariffs will remain unchanged in 2025
