Ukraine MinFin pays USD 1.3 bln on Eurobonds

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry has paid USD 1.3 bln on its
Eurobonds on Sept. 1, the ministry reported the same day. In particular, it
repaid USD 974.1 mln Eurobond on its maturity and paid a total USD 334.6 mln of
coupons on this and six other Eurobonds (maturing on September, 1 each year
till 2027).

MinFin is scheduled to pay USD 3.6 mln on foreign
currency debt by the end of 2021, it reported.

Alexander Paraschiy: September
is the toughest month this year in terms of MinFin’s payments on international
debt. Besides these payments on Eurobonds, the government will face later in
September the maturity of a USD 1,000 mln U.S.-guaranteed bond and USD 111 mln
of coupons on Eurobonds maturing in 2032. On top of that, Ukraine is scheduled
to pay almost USD 500 mln to the IMF this month (of which, about half is paid
by MinFin). With this load, in September alone, Ukraine will use foreign
currency for payments on international debt in the equivalent of more than it
received from the IMF’s SDR distribution program in August (USD 2.7 bln
equivalent). The IMF’s money, therefore, came at
a good time.

Most of the foreign currency payments of the
government in October-December are related to the maturity of local Eurobonds
(equivalent of USD 1.5 bln) which the government might have been expecting to
roll over (most of such bonds’ holders are local state-controlled banks). That
said, Ukraine’s foreign currency debt schedule for the rest of 2021 looks safe.
This, however, does not diminish the need for MinFin to raise new debt, as
financing of the 2021 budget deficit remains an issue.