Ukraine faces highest inflation since 1996

By Natalia Zinets KIEV, May 6 (Reuters) - Prices in Ukraine will rise this year at the fastest rate since 1996 due to a sharp slump in the national hryvnia currency and a rise in utilities prices under an IMF bailout programme, a Reuters monthly survey showed. Analysts of 14 Ukrainian banks and brokerages see inflation accelerating to 36 percent in 2015 from 24.9 percent last year. In 1996 consumer prices rose 39.7 percent and gross domestic product contracted 10 percent as Ukraine endured al...