A senior World Bank (WB) official on Tuesday projected Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) will go up by 3.5 percent in 2018, while urging the authorities to continue the implementation of reforms.

"Ukraine needs further reforms to achieve a growth of 4 percent and more," Satu Kahkonen, the bank's country director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, told reporters during a press conference here.

The WB expects the Ukrainian GDP to increase 2 percent this year, Kahkonen said, pointing out that the sluggish growth would be not enough to revitalize the economy and substantially improve the lives of ordinary people.

Among the critical reforms that have to be implemented in Ukraine, she listed farmland, education, healthcare, pension and fiscal reforms.

She also said the WB has projected Ukraine's GDP as going up by 4 percent in 2019.

The Ukrainian economy grew 2.3 percent in 2016 after two years of contraction, with progress reported in the implementation of energy, banking, governance and judiciary reforms.