Ukraine pays USD 505 mln coupon on sovereign Eurobonds

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry paid on time, Sept. 1, its
semi-annual coupons on nine series of international Eurobonds (UKRAIN) that
were issued as part of a USD 15 bln sovereign debt restructuring in late 2015,
Interfax-Ukraine reported on Sept. 4, citing the ministry. Total coupon
payments amounted to USD 505.4 mln. The ministry itself provided no press
release on that. The restructuring’s bonds of USD 12.96 bln outstanding mature
each year between Sept. 1, 2019 and Sept. 1, 2027 and have a coupon rate of
7.75%.

Alexander Paraschiy: There is no
surprise in Ukraine’s smooth servicing of its debt. The September coupon will
be the key driver of Ukraine’s widening current account deficit for the second
half of 2017. Among other large debt repayments (which won’t affect the current
account deficit, but will reduce Ukraine’s gross reserves) are about USD 600
mln in local Eurobond repayments and about USD 650 mln in repayments to the
IMF, all scheduled for November-December 2017.

We still expect Ukraine will be able to get about USD
1 bln loan from the IMF and raise USD 0.5 bln from placement of international
Eurobond this year, which will result in USD 18.5 bln in end-2017 gross
international reserves (or about 3.7 months of imports).