The Ukrainian gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.1 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2016, the country's State Statistics Service said on Monday.

The figure marked the first quarterly growth of the economy on an annual basis since the fourth quarter of 2013, when the GDP expanded by 3.7 percent.

Earlier this month, Ukraine's National Bank projected a growth to the country's economy in January-March of 2016 given the gradual recovery of domestic economic activity, rise in prices for Ukraine's main exports commodities in the global market and low comparative base.

The economy's plunge in the first quarter of last year was 17 percent.

In October-December of 2015, the country's GDP fell 1.4 percent on an annual basis after contracting 7.2 percent and 14.7 percent respectively in the third and the second quarters.

The Ukrainian government forecasted that the country's GDP would rise 1 percent this year after bogging down 9.9 percent in 2015.