Ukraine finance minister to shed light on bond restructuring on March 13

Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko will hold a webcast presentation for investors on March 13 to present the main features of the IMF’s extended fund facility program with Ukraine and “to guide the forthcoming consultations with holders of Ukraine’s public sector debt,” the ministry website announced on Feb. 11. Before that, the ministry did not discuss any parameters of possible debt restructuring, while the option itself had IMF approval.

Alexander Paraschiy: The recently approved IMF memorandum provides only basic information on Ukraine’s plans to restructure its external debts. It states that “specific terms of the debt operation would be determined following Ukraine’s consultations with creditors,” and these consultations should be finalized by mid-June 2015. According to the memorandum, Ukraine’s public sector aims to generate USD 15 bln from its restructuring efforts in the next four years (during the IMF program period), which looks like the best-case scenario for the government.

This amount broadly corresponds to a total par value of sovereign and quasi-sovereign bonds due in the next four years, including government bonds, state agency bonds, the bonds of Kyiv city, companies fully owned by the state, as well as the 2015 Eurobond due to the Russian State Welfare Fund.