Ukraine receipts from local bond auction plummet to UAH 77 mln

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry raised UAH 77.2 mln from the
sale of 3M, 1Y and 2Y bonds at its weekly bond auction on Oct. 1. This amount
is almost negligent compared with the UAH 13 bln raised at the auction last week.

Around half of auction receipts – UAH 42.7 mln – came
from the sale of 2Y bonds to seven out of eight bidders at a weighted average
interest rate of 15.36%. In addition, six out of seven bidders were successful
in buying 3M bonds at 15.75%. The rest of the auction’s receipts – UAH 15.3 mln
– from the sale of 1Y bonds to a sole bidder at 15.09%.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: Such a
dramatic drop in receipts from the weekly bond auction comes as a big surprise.
Apparently, non-residents, who have been generating a substantial share of
auction receipts in recent months, were not interested in buying local bonds
with terms of maturity of up to two years. Recall, most of the UAH auction
receipts in recent months came from the sale of 3Y and 5Y bonds.

These results show that the situation at the primary
bond market is very shaky, which might undermine the government’s confidence in
its current course of quick interest rate cuts. Moreover, the government might
face difficulty with financing the budget deficit if auction receipts remain
low.