Ukraine MinFin lowers rates for short-term bonds

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry raised UAH 675.1 mln and USD
2.8 mln (a total of UAH 750.6 mln in the equivalent) at its weekly local bond
auction on Dec. 26 after raising the equivalent of UAH 20.0 bln at the auction last week.

All UAH auction receipts came from the sale of 3M
bonds. MinFin lowered the interest rate to 20.0% from 20.5% at the previous
week’s auction and satisfied 15 out of 26 bids. The government also declined
four bids for 6M bonds, two bids for 9M bonds and two bids for 17M bonds, as the
desired interest rate – 20.5% – was apparently too high.

The USD auction receipts were generated by 14 bidders
who bought 10M bonds at 7.25%. MinFin declined seven bids with higher interest
rates.

In related news, on Dec. 26, MinFin scheduled another
local bond auction for Dec. 27. For the sale, the government will offer
UAH-denominated bonds maturing in 62, 97 and 167 days, as well USD-denominated
bonds maturing in 20 and 300 days.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: The receipts
from this last-minute, year-end bond sale are likely to be used to cover
pension spending in January. Recall, the Pension Fund needed additional
injections from the state budget because its
own revenues generated by social payments by employers turned out to be lower
than planned.