Ukraine state debt rises 2.5% m/m in July

Ukraine’s state and state-guaranteed debt rose 2.5%
m/m to USD 82.4 bln in July, the Finance Ministry reported on Aug. 28.

State foreign debt declined 0.5% m/m to USD 39.9 bln,
while state domestic debt jumped 8.0% m/m to USD 32.3 bln. State-guaranteed debt
increased 1.5% m/m to USD 10.2 bln.

In UAH terms, overall state debt slid 1.7% m/m.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: The
hryvnia’s 2.9% appreciation in July was the major reason of state debt growth
in USD terms. Active borrowing at the local debt market also contributed. In
particular, the newly placed local debt in July, which amounted to UAH 71.5 bln
(in the equivalent), exceeded the volume of redeemed local bonds of around UAH
35.0 bln.

We project state and state-guaranteed debt will
reach USD 80.8 bln in 2019, or around 53% of GDP (vs. USD 78.3 bln, or 61% of
GDP, in 2018).