Ukraine pays USD 0.5 bln in coupons on sovereign Eurobonds
2 March 2017
Ukraine’s Finance Ministry reported on March 1 it paid USD 505.43 mln in coupons on its nine Eurobonds. The 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: This external payment, as well as a September coupon, will be the biggest to be made by the Ukrainian government in 2017. Besides that, Ukraine will have to repay gradually almost USD 1 bln to the IMF this year. All this should be easily covered by the soon-expected IMF tranche (about USD 1 bln), a EUR 0.6 bln loan from the EU and some loans from other IFIs and governments.
That said, this year Ukraine will be easily able to service its international debt. But we see some risks in 2019, when the IMF’s program will conclude and Ukraine will have to repay USD 5.3 bln to the IMF and bondholders. In addition, two Ukrainian state banks will have to pay aggregately USD 1.1 bln to their bondholders in 2019.
