(MENAFN) Annual inflation in strife-torn Ukraine soared to some 61 percent in April, as the conflict in the east of the country continued to roil the stricken economy, The Peninsula Qatar reported.

The figure went up from some 53.7 percent in March as the ex-Soviet nation counts the cost of more than a year of bitter fighting with pro-Russian rebels that has ravaged its industrial heartland.

The turmoil in Ukraine has brutalized the country's already faltering economy and the World Bank has predicted that GDP will plummet by some 7.5 percent this year.

Ukraine is being propped up by a USD17.5 billion financial bailout plan from the International Monetary Fund and has received some USD5 billion of the aid in March.